Hello?

“Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’”—Mark 9:21

This entire scene in Mark 9 is a seat-squirmer, because most of us have been there: That situation you’ve been praying for forever that seems to be getting worse, not better. What’s with that? We wonder what on earth Jesus is doing. (“Hello? Is Anyone there?!”)

There are no cut and dried answers to why this is so. But this much we know: Jesus does not love us partially, but wholly. He is all-in with us and for us in this walk of faith. It stands to reason, then, that He also isn’t about answering prayers with patchwork solutions that may “fix" one situation while neglecting the larger issue.

Sometimes, as with this boy's father, the delay in answer to prayer may be because Jesus is also working to strengthen the heart of the person doing the praying.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus

O for grace to trust Him more.