Jesus Marvelled At Their Unbelief

There is one place in the gospels where Jesus goes somewhere and almost nothing happens. It is His own hometown.

Mark 6:5 and 6 say, "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief." Nothing had changed about Him. Something was closed in the room.

Be careful what you do with that, because it gets used to hurt people. Nazareth was not a crowd of desperate people struggling to believe. It was a town that had decided in advance it already knew who He was. That is a different thing entirely from someone lying in a hospital bed doing their best to hold on.

And notice Jesus never tells anyone to try harder at believing. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Faith is not willpower you generate. It grows in you from what you keep hearing, which means the question is what you have been listening to.

Matthew 13:15 talks about people whose "ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed." That is not weakness, it is a decision made so long ago it stopped feeling like one. So keep putting yourself in front of what God says rather than only what everyone around you assumes. The Holy Spirit is the one who builds faith out of that, and He is not in a hurry with you.

Mark 9:23 says, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." The man He said that to answered honestly that he believed and needed help with his unbelief. Jesus worked with that, and He will work with yours.