What Does "I Believe! Help My Unbelief!" Teach Us about Faith?
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Have you prayed, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”?
It’s a prayer we find ourselves praying when our prayers seem to bounce back from heaven unanswered. Is the reason for unanswered prayers our lack of faith?
We pray for cancer to be eradicated, clogged arteries in the heart of a loved one to clear, or that job we so desperately need to fall into our lap. We wonder if our faith is not great enough to have our petitions favorably answered.
Does heaven hold a faith meter watched intently by the angels before they are sent to provide help? Is that what this prayer means?
To really understand this petition, let’s go back to the story where a broken-hearted, frightened father cried those words.
Why Did the Man Say “I Believe, Help My Unbelief?”
The story is found in three gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share this father’s desperate plea. Interestingly, Matthew waits until the seventeenth chapter to unfold this teaching on faith and prayer, while Mark and Luke both write about it in the ninth chapter of their books. Despite the difference in the placement of this story, all three gospels tell it after a very important event called the Transfiguration. It’s definitely an example of a mountaintop experience followed by a valley of doubt.
As Heather Adams writes in “Help My Unbelief, a Prayer God Wants to Answer,” three disciples—Peter, James, and John—had just experienced Jesus’s “divine nature” on this mountaintop. They witnessed the shekinah glory on his face and stood in the presence of Moses and Elijah, who conversed with the transformed Christ. During this heavenly moment, they even heard the voice of God and feared for their lives while their fellow disciples struggled in prayer below. No matter how hard they prayed or what words they used to rebuke the demon living in the young boy, their prayers did no good.
And so, as soon as Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain, the father fell at Jesus’s feet, begging for his son’s healing. He relayed the events of that afternoon and the disciples’ inability to heal the boy. Can you imagine Jesus’s frustration, his heartbreak? He said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I put up with [support] you?” (Mark 9:19, addition mine). And he asked for them to bring the boy to him.
The father continued to beg for mercy and healing if it were possible. To his petition, Jesus promised that everything is possible for those who believe. And that’s when the desperate dad asked for more than his son’s healing; he asked for greater faith—doubt eradicating faith.
“Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
What Happened After the Man Said “I Believe Help My Unbelief”?
As soon as the father’s plea left his lips, Jesus rebuked the deaf and mute spirit commanding it never to enter the boy’s body again. The disciples were amazed.
Later that day, alone with Jesus, they asked why they could not do what Jesus did. “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells them it was because they did not have enough faith, but then he continues to tell them all they need is faith as small as a mustard seed to move mountains. He says, “Nothing will be impossible for you.”
But it was, at least that day. Was Jesus contradicting himself when he spoke of the small amount of faith needed to move mountains? Surely, they had that much faith when they were trying to heal the boy.
Whenever a contradiction seems to threaten, it’s an invitation to study deeper beyond the translations.
Jesus was not contradicting himself. The problem can be found in the translation of his answer, “Because you have so little faith.” This faith has been translated from the Greek word apistia. It is different from the next sentence, “If you have faith [pistis] as small as a mustard seed . . .” Apistia can be translated as unbelief, but can also mean unfaithfulness.
Did the disciples give up too soon? Was it not their faith but their unfaithfulness to keep on keeping on in prayer and fasting (as the other gospels include in Jesus’s answer) that stopped the mountain from moving and the boy’s healing to come?
What Does “I Believe Help My Unbelief” Teach Us About Doubt?
Apistia holds the meaning of unfaithfulness. Pistis can be translated as faith, trust, and belief. If we read the father’s plea as “Help me trust you. Help my distrust,” suddenly his words move from a head decision to a heart one. The mountain of doubt can be moved when we pray—trusting God’s power, ability, and goodness in the answer.
The father’s plea shows us Jesus’s willingness to heal the son and help the father. Not only is it by the grace of Jesus, we are saved. By his grace, we can trust at deeper levels. As Jessica Brodie says in “Nine Ways “Help My Unbelief” is a Powerful Prayer,” this petition reminds us that God is mightier than the world and greater than our doubts.
This story teaches us that doubt is not a bad thing. It is a human thing. We will have doubts, but what we do with the doubt counts. If it makes us desperate to search for Jesus and pray for greater trust, it is good. But if doubt takes us out of the game, giving up on prayer, our focus has moved from the God of the mountains who can do anything and converses with Moses and Elijah to our own faith to move the mountain.
It’s not about us. It’s about him. It’s about Jesus, the author and perfecter of our trust in him (Hebrews 12:2).
Prayers to Pray for Greater Trust and Fervent Faithfulness
This is the most beautiful part of this story: it teaches us to pray and not give up. It teaches us about the sovereignty of God, the divinity of Jesus, and his loving, gracious, merciful nature. No faith meter sits in heaven suspended over our heads. God’s not waiting for our faith to be just the right amount to answer our prayers. No, this story is not about faith. It’s about prayer. And prayer is very simple. If you’re struggling in the faith department, all you have to do is pray for help. Maybe these simple prayers will help you move those mountains you so desperately need to move in your life.
Prayer for Greater Trust
Jesus, help us trust you more! Help us take our eyes off our own faith and place it on your power and goodness. Thank you for the fact we can pray for greater trust. Heal those places in us where we are broken, where people we’ve trusted have hurt us. You aren’t like that. You love us no matter what; we know this because you died for us. You climbed up a cross, opened up your arms, and sacrificed yourself for our eternity with you. Surely we can trust your love and your answers. Please grace us with greater trust. We love you, Amen.
Prayer for Fervent Faithfulness
Jesus, you are amazing. Nothing is impossible with you, and you promised the disciples that nothing would be impossible with them. We need your grace to empower us with fervent faithfulness. Don’t let us give up in prayer for those mountains to move for our loved ones, our country, and our world. Make us strong. Make us consistent. Don’t let us fall into hopelessness. Lord, keep our eyes focused on you, the author and perfector of our faith. Take our eyes off our faith and place them on your goodness. Give us fervent faithfulness forever and ever. Amen.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Pornyot Palilai
Andy Lee is an event speaker, blogger, YouTuber, and award winning author of three books, A Mary Like Me; The Book of Ruth Key-Word Bible Study, and Radiant Influence: How an ordinary girl changed the world. She passionately teaches how to find life in God's Word in order to live abundantly. You can catch her life giving messages weekly on Instagram and YouTube. She also provides monthly Bible reading plans and articles on her website www.wordsbyandylee.
This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy-to-read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. We hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in your life today.