Insights

When children are preschoolers, they can go through a phase where they want to do big things all by themselves. I call it the “Me do it! “ phase. Preschoolers attempt to feed themselves, dress themselves and other tasks that, well, they are not quite ready to do by themselves. Often I wonder if God looks at us and wonders why we try to do things that are not in our abilities to fix or do by ourselves.

Jesus tells his disciples that if they have faith they will be able to move mountains. In Matthew 17, the passage of moving the mountain comes after the disciples are unable to heal a demon possessed boy.

Jesus says,  “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed , you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible.”

Then later  in Matthew 21, Jesus curses a fruit tree to not bear fruit and he turns to his disciples and says,“Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.”

The statements that Jesus makes in Matthew chapter 17 and 21 can be perplexing, but I think it is understood that we should not be rearranging landforms. I know I can’t lift a mountain or push a mountain. Obviously,  Jesus is using a mountain as an  illustration to make a bigger point. Jesus is using an illustration about something impossible that the disciples can’t do or don’t believe they can do. It is something bigger than what they can do on their own.

So what is your mountain? What is so large and so big,  you can’t fix it, rearrange it, or  you can’t paint happy little trees around it and call it good?

In Mark 11:24, right after saying faith can move mountains, Jesus connects it to prayer.  Prayer aligns us to a powerful God. A God who can create a universe by His word, who can create a safe passage through the seas, who can provide to a crowd  the best wine and more food than they can imagine.

Faith in the Sovereign God can overcome big things because He is a powerful BIG God! That powerful God who loves us with the most perfect love is sovereign in our lives. Prayer aligns us to His will. Aligning our will to the Sovereign God forces us to choose to align  our ways to His ways. The faith needed to move a mountain aligns our choices to His will. His wishes and desires will be accomplished and nothing is too big.

Believe and have faith that He is a good good Father who sees your mountain and knows you can’t do it on your own. Pray for His will to be done because He is good and His will is good. “Our Father, who is in Heaven… thy will be done….” Faith is based on God’s agenda, not our agenda. It’s not our ability to move mountains. It is God’s ability. It’s not our will to move the mountain.” It is by His will.

Have faith. He will move the mountains.

Leah Rabb
Elementary Education Principal
Logos Preparatory Academy