"'You don't have enough faith,' Jesus told them. 'I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.'" (Matthew 17:20)
"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Show us how to increase our faith.' The Lord answered, 'If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,' and it would obey you!'" (Luke 17:5-6)
In these two verses, Jesus is asked by His followers how to increase, or have more faith. I find Jesus' reply intriguing. He tells them in both accounts, "If you had faith EVEN as small as a mustard seed..."
What strikes me is that the faith they had right then and there, right beside Jesus himself, must have been less than mustard seed sized faith, or Jesus wouldn't have said what He did.
"IF YOU HAD FAITH EVEN AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED..."
A MUSTARD SEED!!
A tiny, miniscule, can-barely-see-it mustard seed...
AND THEY HAD LESS FAITH THAN THAT...
How do you walk and talk with Jesus, follow Him in flesh and blood, how do you hear His voice and feel His touch, experience His tenderness, His mercies, His miracles right there in front of you, and have less faith than a mustard seed?
I'm certain that I know how, and it's simple, really.
THEY WERE HUMAN.
Here you and I are, sort of on the other side of things. We don't have the benefit of being present with Jesus in the flesh. Jesus' followers struggled with faith, and they were right there with Him, and for good measure, let's throw in the fact that we are human, too. I don't know about you, but I want to have faith. I want it to live and breathe and carry me. I want it to seep from my soul. I don't want it to be rattled and shaken.
The truth is, though, sometimes life batters us to bits. Sometimes we feel crushed under the weight that life can be, and sometimes it's hard to hold onto faith at all. So how do you... and how do I... have faith AT LEAST the size of a mustard seed?
HOW??
Did you notice what the two verses also say?
IF...
If you have mustard seed sized faith, then you could say to a mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and thrown into the sea," and it would obey you, and you could tell the mountain to move from here to there and it would. If you have mustard seed sized faith, nothing would be impossible.
NOTHING WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!!
Do I think we'll be able to uproot a real mulberry tree simply by telling it to
throw itself into the sea? Do I think we'll be able to move a real mountain from one place to another?
NO.
But what are the mulberry trees in your life that need uprooted and tossed away? What are the mountains in your life that need to be moved? The thing about mountains, especially, is that they are usually an entire range. Sure there's Everest and Kilimanjaro, McKinley and Fuji, but mountains are connected to one another: Andes, Rockies, Appalachians, Himalayas. One singular mountain could scarcely move without taking a portion of the next mountain or part of the range with it, so I think of the mountains that need moved more like intertwined circumstances. What are your mulberry trees and mountains, and what is hard in your life right now?
HOW'S YOUR FAITH, FRIEND?
That brings us back to the apparently elusive mustard seed, doesn't it? Sigh. When we are rattled to the core, how do we have faith when everything around us feels faithless or impossible?
"...let us strip off every weight that slows us down...that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance...We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus... who initiates and perfects our faith." (Hebrews 12:1-2)
THERE IT IS.
Strip away things that are slowing us down and keep going, even if it's just one baby step at a time.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
JESUS IS THE ONE WHO INITIATES OUR FAITH.
JESUS IS THE ONE WHO PERFECTS OUR FAITH.
This is freeing, because it's not about us; it's about Him. It is Jesus who stirs faith in us from the start. The apostles were right there in the midst experiencing Jesus, and somehow their eyes must have shifted from Him. Again, they were human. I truly believe that experiencing God is what sparks our faith, and we have to choose to keep our eyes on Him, and we have to choose to keep going.
A real experience = the beginning of faith, and GOD is the one who does it. WE choose to stay on the path while He forges faith in us along the way.
Soooo... that mustard seed sized faith and those seemingly impossible mulberry trees and mountain ranges?
I'M FINDING IN THE MIDST OF HARD LIFE THAT THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMING POSSIBLE IS NOT SO MUCH THAT MY CIRCUMSTANCE HAS CHANGED, BUT THE FACT THAT I KNOW AND BELIEVE I AM BEING CARRIED THROUGH IT.
FAITH.
IT IS JESUS WHO SPARKS AND ALSO KEEPS MY FAITH, AND I AM FINDING ON THIS JOURNEY THAT THE MOUNTAINS THAT GET MOVED ARE USUALLY THE ONES INSIDE OF ME.
TRUTH.
***********
I'm not going to lie. Today marks the three year anniversary of our family leaving Michigan. We, honestly, thought then that we were stepping into the Jordan River and entering the promised land. It turns out that we were only leaving Egypt for the desert. Sigh. We never dreamed that we would be in our forties with four kids, and living with parents. Double sigh. The longing for home is a deep ache, that at times, feels like a crushing weight. We've been on a roller-coaster with IronMan's job the last three years, as well. But we are still here. God has given us just enough to stay on this path following after Him. These days, I am trying to muster up enough belief that the promised land might just be ahead still. We have hope in the midst of the hard, even if we are scratching our way to it. On the roughest of days, my heart's cry is this:
"I DO BELIEVE, BUT HELP ME OVERCOME MY UNBELIEF!"
My friend, you are not alone. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't give up. We will get through this, and the mountains are going to move. I can feel it in my soul bones.
All is grace,
