Devotionals

Divine Possibilities

by Anne Adams
05/15/26
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Scripture: “…And the demon often makes him fall into the fire or into water to kill him. Oh, have mercy on us and do something if you can.” “If I can?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if you have faith.” The father instantly replied: "I do have faith. Oh, help me to have more!" Mark 9:22-24 Living Bible

This past January as a multi-day blast of cold wintry weather swept the nation, here in East Texas it meant some snow but mostly icy roads. However, rising temperatures assisted in the recovery process as people resumed their regular routines.

Except for me. You see, I live in an apartment complex and because of the bad roads the maintenance guys the first day couldn’t get to work to shovel away the light snowfall. That meant that with the snowy residue in place the sidewalks in the complex became sheets of ice, even though the parking lots were clear. What it meant for me as a senior adult with tricky balance was that I couldn’t risk trying to use those walkways. And that’s when the worrisome anxiety took over. 

All I could think of was that I was trapped! I needed groceries and I couldn’t out! Heck, I couldn’t even get to church! Then somehow as the raw horror overwhelmed my imagination I experienced solitude and a sense of abandonment. I could only cry out to the Lord – why have you deserted me?

But somehow a bit of logic seemed to seep its way into my confusion. God desert me? Oh, come on – where was my faith? Did I doubt he would care for me?

Of course the next day with rising temperatures the ice on the sidewalks had melted and I could get out. Yet the whole experience somehow gave me a sympathy for the desperately anxious father in our passage. He’d received no help for his demon possessed son from the disciples. Then when Jesus returned and chided them for their lack of faith to heal the man’s son, it seems that the desperate father would get no help. Perhaps he even wondered if he had have enough faith. Then he learned Jesus not only could heal the boy but he did it – because it depended only on Christ himself not on the father’s faith – slight as it was.

So as I learned, along with the father, our faith may fail occasionally and so we panic. Yet when we witness how the Lord responds then it only verifies but can also increase whatever faith we have. For our benefit and his glory.