Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 (ESV)
A few weeks ago, my best friend bought me a gift. She told me that while she was shopping she came across this sign, and immediately thought of me. The gift is pictured above left.
I LOVE IT! I already made my husband put it up in my house right by where I do my Bible studies so I can see it every time I’m praying, praising, and studying. What’s so crazy about this gift is that this is one of the verses I pray over my best friend. Daily, I ask God to move her mountain and take away her cancer. Isn’t it funny that she thought of me when she saw this wall hanging, and I’ve been praying this verse over her for over a year now?!
A Difficult Concept
I have been thinking about faith for a while now. Faith has been a difficult concept for me. When I consider my faith, I can say that I believe in God, my Father, Savior, and Holy Guide, 1000%. There is nothing that could shake that faith. But I still have reservations. It’s been bugging me for quite a while now. If I believe in God with my whole being, what is my problem? It dawned on me that my problem is me. I don’t really have a lot of faith in me, and I think that maybe I’m not too sure what faith even is.
Do you ever think to yourself, “What if I were in Daniel’s shoes?” Or, “What would I do if I was in Esther’s situation?” When I think about the men and women in the Bible who did AMAZING things for God, I always question what I would have done if I had been called for that moment. Honestly, I feel I would fail every time. Then, I get a little disappointed. Do I even have faith as big as the smallest mustard seed? What does that even mean anyway?
Continued Struggle
The other day I was struggling with this concept — faith as big as a mustard seed. I was begging God to help me understand. You know those times the words in the Bible leap off the page and you KNOW it’s God talking? Yeah, totally had that moment.
I was getting a little sad about my whole faith issue. I prayed. I asked God to show me. Then I did my Bible study. I didn’t really get an answer. I was putting my Bible stuff away after my study was done when I lost grip of my Bible and it slipped back to the table. When it slipped it opened to Daniel 3. In that moment, my eye lasered in on the bottom half of the page. Here is what my eye saw:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3: 16-18
An Answered Prayer
I burst into tears. God gave me an answer about Faith!!!
The part of these verses that resonated with me is the phrase “but if not” in verse 18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are a perfect picture of faith. They know their God can move mountains. If it is His will, God will save them from the awful fire pit King Nebuchadnezzar wants to throw them in. BUT IF NOT — if it is not God’s plan to save them, these three men will still serve only HIM. Faith lies in the “but if not” phrase. Faith is knowing what God is capable of, and trusting Him to see His Will done. Faith is Trust! If we trust God even the teensiest bit, we will be OK.
Before God showed me these three verses — seemingly haphazardly — the concept of faith was so BIG. I felt like I could never be whatever Faith meant. But God showed me that Faith is standing up and saying, “Whatever God Wills,” and then trusting Him to be in control. It’s not about what I want, but what He wills. Now, I finally get what it means to have faith the size of a mustard seed!
