Weakness to Strength

While the Lord Jesus Christ was on the mount of transfiguration with three of His disciples, the other nine were in the valley below where they encountered another instance of their inability to do the work that Christ had appointed them to do. When the Lord returned from the mount, He was able to resolve the problem of the demon-possessed child very quickly. But the disciples wanted to know why it was that they had failed when He had succeeded. His answer focused on their unbelief as their chief problem. He did tell them that it was a particularly difficult case and that it would only be resolved through the kind of faith that moves mountains. But not even that little faith did the disciples possess. He warned them that the service of following His will would require a very great sacrifice. There tends to be a lot of interest in the Lord's point about fasting, and often His chief point gets lost. The problem the disciples faced was their unbelief.