“Lord, I believe…..help thou my unbelief.” So pleaded the father of the seizure-ridden child to the Lord Jesus Christ. We all find ourselves in need of miracles, trusting in the Lord, yet with doubts creeping in like this poor father. Sometimes in the face of overwhelming illness, our faith and belief are worn down through weariness to just a sliver of hope. But sometimes, that is just enough because the Lord is so merciful.
Miracles follow them that believe. But the Lord decides who lives, who is healed, when the believer is healed and how the healing occurs. We trust His Omniscience, to know what is best for us. Mosiah said:
‘Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.’[i]
In a fallen world, Moroni describes the unhappy state where no one has enough faith to be healed or see miracles:
“Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain. For no man can be saved, according to the words of Christ, save they shall have faith in his name; wherefore, if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also; and awful is the state of man, for they are as though there had been no redemption made.”[ii]
Faith in Christ leads to following him through changing our willful ways to do his works like the disciples of the New Testament. Alma said:
“he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.”[iii]
[i] Mosiah 4:9
[ii] Moroni 7:37-38
[iii] Alma 12:15