Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 263 · September 20
Help Mine Unbelief
“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
Nobody prays that sentence unless they are cornered. We admire the father in Mark 9 for his honesty rather too quickly, as though he had chosen candour. Admiring him costs less than joining him. He had a son on the ground in front of him, foaming, and he had already tried the professionals. I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
What he brings to Jesus is worn down and hedged: if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus picks up the if and hands it back. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
We have prayed the confident half for years while believing a fraction of it, and dressed the shortfall up as reverence. The second half goes unsaid because somebody might hear it.
We believe. Help our unbelief, Lord, and take the prayer at the strength it actually is. The boy was healed, and nothing in the chapter says the father's faith improved first. When the disciples asked privately why they had failed, the answer was prayer and fasting, with nothing said about their confidence.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 263 is Light Breaking Forth (Isaiah 58:8).