“ ‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.’ ‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me’ ” (Matthew 17:15-17).

In this Scripture, Jesus diagnosed the problem with our world. When He used the expression “unbelieving and perverse generation” He could have been describing any period of human history. “Perverse” means that something is twisted or turned from its proper direction. The tragedy of human nature without God is that it is pointed in the wrong direction. Consequently, there is a lack of faith in God. Jesus described the sadness of a world that has lost its faith.

The consequences of a lack of faith are clearly evident in this story. The religious leaders who were standing on the sidelines of this story had boxed God in and were interfering with His power instead of believing in Him. The boy was being overwhelmed and victimized by evil and the father was disillusioned by the failure of the disciples, who failed to help the boy and his father.

Thankfully, human failure wasn’t the end of the story. The disciples weren’t left with embarrassment because Jesus came to their rescue. The father wasn’t abandoned to hopelessness and the boy wasn’t left in bondage to his affliction. Jesus saved the day for everyone involved. He still does that. There is an answer to unbelief. It is faith in Jesus. He loves to come to impossible situations and reveal His power.