Matthew 17:20, “And He said to them, “Because of your little faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” LSB
Do you ever feel like you have things pretty much under control, and then something new pops up and undermines your confidence and you are facing something perhaps the size of a mountain that will not move? This new problem then consumes all your energy, emotions, and your thoughts over and over again. So often we complain, gripe, and get irritated, and then discouragement and disappointment cast their cloud over us. We may even end up lashing out at others and spiraling into hurtful words that erupt from us like a bubbling, effervescent volcano. But are we spending more of our emotions fretting rather than praying and committing the problem to God? Oh, we know and can quote Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to those that love the Lord.” Then we can also profess that God controls all things, but we want a quick fix. We live as though someone else’s approval, or good health, or avoiding conflict, or getting our own way, matters more than trusting and loving God. These involve our idols, but God says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. We want to be free of hurt or pain, crave being respected and admired, have high expectations of how people should treat us or act, and the list goes on.
We need to do two things. First of all, we need to have faith, no matter how small it is, such as even the size of a mustard seed (see the picture of earrings featuring mustard seeds), and give it to God to cause it to grow and believe He will answer our prayer. We need to say with the psalmist in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you.” Then as David declared in Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” The second thing we need to pray is” God make these verses true in my life. Take away the discouragement I feel.” Pray that your understanding of the promises of God will give you added faith to believe God will conquer and move any mountain you have in your life, be it involving family, your job, health, financial needs, being treated unjustly, unmet expectations, etc. The list of God’s promises to us is far longer than our list of complaints about anyone or anything that concerns us.
Jesus rebuked His disciples for their insufficient faith (Matthew 17:20) yet did not condemn them. He was their teacher and was preparing them for what they would need in their future ministry when He was gone – faith in the power of God. Our faith doesn’t move the mountains. It is the power of God, but faith must be present in order to do so. The mustard seed was the smallest seed imaginable, and God put it in this verse as a visual picture. There is great potential even in a little faith when God is with us, making sure there are no idols of disobedience in our way. Having a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith will turn our eyes away from our immovable mountain and look to Christ, and to all He accomplished on the cross, for more faith.
Listen to Brandan Lake & Phil Wickham, Naomi Raine -When I Look at the Cross.