"Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"

Mark 9:24

This is our prayer. We claim to be believers but in practice we are unbelievers. We are filled with unbelief. Any hint of suffering, temptation or trial and we scatter quicker than the disciples did as they fled Christ in the garden. Our sin overwhelms us and rather than taking it to the foot of the cross, we turn inward to stagnate and wallow in our self-loathing, self-pity, and self-righteousness. All this is a crowning of ourself as god. Christ was crowned with thorns, but we consider our crowns to be of more importance.
It is only after we are crushed and killed and condemned that we may be comforted and made alive and then we cry, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"
God does not come to remove our suffering. He does not come to give us an answer to the "Why?" But to be with us there in the midst of our daily struggles.