MOUNTAIN MOVERS

I’ve always wondered what Jesus meant when He said, “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.” I’ve never heard of mountains moving—and I’ve certainly never
moved a mountain—so why did He choose that analogy?

Over time, I’ve come to realize that while my faith hasn’t moved any literal mountains,
even a little bit of faith—faith the size of a tiny mustard seed—can overcome
mountainous obstacles in our lives.

The difficulty with this is that the outcome is often not as obvious as a mountain
moving and falling into the sea. Christian author Kent Crockett put it this way: “Faith is
the ability to look past adverse circumstances and see God’s hand at work.” That
ability can be hard to gauge, and that’s why we often wonder if our faith is real.

In Hebrews 11, Paul lists characters from the Old Testament who lived their entire
lives in faith, but never got to see the final fulfillment of what they were hoping for—
the kingdom of God on earth. Yet their faith was not wasted: among other things
along the way, “these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received
what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of
fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to
strength.”