Editorial May 25, 2015 Issue

Shoring up our faith

David C. Kennedy

Who of us doesn’t need, at times, to shore up our faith in God? Sometimes that need is acutely felt—because of a trying circumstance, or a physical difficulty that frightens us, or a long-standing, deep desire that has yet to be fulfilled. For others of us, it may be a chronic doubt about the reliability of leaning on God for safety and healing.

Even Jesus’ disciples felt this need. The Bible records that at one time they said to Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Instead of telling them how to build up a whole lot of faith, he told them they needed only a tiny grain of it.

In the book of Matthew a similar conversation is recorded. The disciples had failed to heal a boy who was evidently suffering from epilepsy. Jesus had come along and healed the boy, and afterward the disciples asked him, “Why could not we cast him out?”—referring to the “devil,” or malady that had afflicted the boy. Jesus said, “Because of your unbelief,” and he again spoke to them of needing faith as a grain of mustard seed. But he added an important comment: “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:19–21).

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