Objection: Jesus Let People Fail to Remind Them How Much They Needed Him

This wouldn’t even be worth answering were it not for the fact that this idea came from a well-respected Bible commentary!  The author cites the instance of the demonized boy and claims that Jesus had His disciples NOT cast the demon out in His absence so that He could then do it when He showed up.  This was supposedly to remind them that they couldn’t do anything without Him.  Sadly, I once heard a preacher (live) present this same idea – that God would “cause His people to FAIL so that only He would get the glory.” That presents a horrible image of our Heavenly Father!  In this day and age, we should know better than to think that God wants us to FAIL instead of PROSPER (3 John 2).  I’m glad that John didn’t say, “Beloved, I pray that you FAIL in all things so that only God will get glory, not you.”

The actual accounts of the demonized boy prove the opposite – Jesus was UPSET that the disciples did NOT cast the demon out in His absence!  They were supposed to get the job done because He had delegated the authority to them to do it.  The failure was strictly on their end, not a premeditated result where Jesus wanted them to fail.

Jesus sent the 12 and then the 70 out to preach without being with them at the time.  They had great success; they did not FAIL so that they would want to go back to where Jesus was and declare, “We failed.  We’re reminded of how we just can’t do any healings or miracles without You.”  They had His delegated authority, and that is all they needed – AND IT IS ALL YOU NEED!

Today, Jesus lives IN you all the time – a blessing that the disciples did not know at the time of the incident because they were not born again yet.  So there is NO possibility that He will leave you on your own to fail to show you how much you need Him!