October 2, 2009 THE SPHERE OF HUMILIATION

Mark 9:22b - Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.

After the transfiguration, Jesus, James, Peter and John came down the mountain to find the other disciples involved in an argument with some of the religious teachers and a crowd of onlookers growing around them. When Jesus asks what the argument is about, a man from the crowd speaks up and tells him that he’d brought his son to the disciples to have an evil spirit cast out of him, but that they were unable to do it. Jesus is exasperated with his disciples for their lack of faith, and tells the man to bring the boy to him. When asked about the boy’s condition, the father explains that he’s suffered since he was a small child and that he is often thrown into fire or water, nearly dying. The father begs Jesus “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can” to which Jesus replies:
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24)
Jesus immediately rebukes the evil spirit, and the boy is freed.

Peter, James and John had just had a remarkable experience. They’d seen Christ revealed as he truly was and heard the voice of God proclaim His love for Jesus. But there is no time to bask in the glow of their time on the mountain. The minute they rejoin the other disciples they are in the midst of an argument and in the presence of a demon-possessed boy. If they thought the emotional “high” of their experience would continue when they came down the mountain, they were mistaken. And it is no different for us in our spiritual “moments on the mountain.” Chambers explains:
After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling. The height of the mountain top is measure by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We SEE His glory on the mount, but we never LIVE for His glory there. It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship to Him.
“We see his glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there.” Isn’t that so true? I think of my own “spiritual highs” – the times I’ve felt powerfully moved by worship, or felt God’s hand on me during a time of prayer and then find myself jolted to reality by a crying infant and dirty diapers and a stressed out husband and not enough money and, and, and…What am I doing with those mountain top moments when I find myself in the valley of everyday life? I wish I could say that I always rise above, that I always see His purpose in those valley moments. Although I am learning to, I’ve still got a ways to go.

Chambers reminds us that “it is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God.” When I hear the word “humiliation”, I tend to think of it in terms of profound embarrassment, though I don’t think that is what he means here at all. I believe it is more in terms of humbleness: we need to come down from our inflated sense of entitlement to recognize what and who we are without God. When we can recognize the truth of His grace and how lost we are without it, it is only THEN that we can truly live for His purpose.

There is another message Chambers shows us here – the lesson we learn from the distraught father of the demon-possessed boy. The man wanted Jesus to do something for his son, but wasn’t entirely sure that he could. He’d watched the disciples try and fail – perhaps he was afraid of getting his hopes up, afraid of the disappointment if Jesus also failed him, afraid that his son was simply doomed to live out his life as a prisoner to his affliction. When he expresses uncertainty about Christ’s power, Jesus says “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father answers with desperate honesty “I believe but help me overcome my unbelief.” Note that Jesus didn’t chastise him for his answer. He didn’t say “well, that’s not good enough, call me back when you have rooted out all of your unbelief.” No, He honored the man’s request. He helped the man with His unbelief and saved his son. We need to approach God with this same raw honesty. We need to say to Him in times of struggle “Jesus, I believe but help me overcome my unbelief!”
It takes the valley of humiliation to root the skepticism out of us. Look back at your own experience, and you will find that until you learned Who Jesus was, you were a cunning skeptic about His power. When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but what about the time when you were up against facts in the valley?
How true this is! It is easy to spout proverbs and biblical truths in those moments when our lives are rolling along and things are all sunshine and daisies. But when things in our world begin to fall apart a bit, it is THEN that we see who we truly depend on. Do we seek our security in our “stuff,” in our jobs, in our bank accounts, in our relationships or do we believe in Jesus for His promises? When we come to the point where we’ve learned who Jesus is on the mount, we need to remember that He doesn’t change simply because our circumstances have. The times on the mount show us who HE is, the times in the valley show us who WE are. When we allow God to be God and submit ourselves to His plan (because He does have one) it is then that He can do His work in us and for us. We don’t have to come to God with a plastic smile and a perfect faith – He knows the depths of our struggles. We must simply come to Him with honesty – “Jesus, I believe but help me overcome my unbelief.”