All Things are Possible - To Him That Believeth

Elder Holland uses one of my very favorite scriptural passages to teach some important principles in this talk. In Mark 9:14-24 the account tells of a man who comes to the apostles and asks them to heal his afflicted son. They are unable to and Jesus comes up in the middle of everything and the man pleads,

"If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us."

"Jesus said unto him, 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 though mine unbelief."

I have always loved this passage because within ALL of us there is some level of unbelief, or doubt, or hesitation to live the gospel fully. Even the best of us. Elder Holland says the following:

"When the pressure is on, when crunch time hits, don't make your first declaration one of unbelief....I would ask all of us, in moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, to hold the ground we have already won even if that ground is limited and under attack. In the course of life, problems are going to come, questions are going to arise, some spiritual equivalent of this foaming and gnashing loved one is going to face us..."

"..When you are confronted with challenges that are difficult to conquer, or have questions arise, the answers to which you do not know, hold fast to the things you do know. Hang on to your firmest foundation, however limited that may be, and from that position of strength face the unknown..."

LORD, I BELIEVE!

"[However], in at least some aspects of your life, you and I, even believers that we are, need to be more willing to humble ourselves, to bow our heads, and to lower our voices, saying, 'Lord, help thou mine unbelief.'"

"Any weakness, any uncertainty, any wavering - that will never be in God. Take my word for it. We do not need to waste any breath inquiring haltingly of Him, 'If thou canst do any thing...' Trust me, or rather trust Him - He can not only do anything, he can do everything. No, the challenge is always with us. As one scholar said in a different context, ' When the infinite fullness is poured forth, it is not the oil's fault if there is loss. It will only be the fault of the vessels that fail to contain it.'"

HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF!

The message that I received, is that, sometimes, there can be an incorrect perception of humility. We don't have to play the victim in all hard situations, giving way to feelings of hopelessness. We don't have to be so "humble" that we forget our faith. We DO KNOW some things forsure, different things for different people. But, on the other side, we can't lie to ourselves thinking that we know everything and are doing everything that the Lord would want us to do. We need His help in everything we do.