Moving Mountains

I've been thinking again. You might say to yourself … Oh no, now what? That's just it, I don't know; so I'm going to try and put my thoughts into words. I'm starting with a blank page … kind of like my mind most of the time when I'm dealing with things that require faith.

As I look back over my life since I started believing in Jesus, I have been trying to follow His teaching that I find in the Bible; as well as what Paul and the other Apostles had to say about faith, wisdom, testing, trials, healing; along with other lessons in life … and as I think about all these things based only on my own personal experiences, I find that something just doesn't seem right.

The lofty words of Jesus … if I dare call them that … the ones dealing with faith, seem to be higher than I can reach at this present time.

Oh, they are inspiring, and true, for God can not lie. Take for example …

Matthew 17:20 …"And Jesus said unto them … If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Jesus went even further when He said in …

Mark 11:23-24 …"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

Luke 17:5-6 …"And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."

On paper it looks so simple … my small amount of faith, when planted and watered by the Word should grow; maybe not into a great big tree, but at least a twig with some kind of roots in the Word of God that will withstand the storms of life.

I have spoken to the mountains that have confronted me … and guess what … they never moved. I had to climb over them or walk around them. According to the words of Jesus, the mountain should have moved, for … "nothing shall be impossible unto you"… unless the mountain is not the problem we are facing.

What if the mountain Jesus was speaking about were … doubt and unbelief and not a literal material mountain at all. Doubt and unbelief come when we face something in our lives that seems insurmountable; a mountain sized problem that we know in and of ourselves we are not capable of overcoming because it's too big for us; so it brings and introduces fear into our heart.

So … let me run this through my mind again; if believing is faith, and doubt is the opposite of faith … then doubt is unbelief. Does this sound right? If it is, then when we doubt, are we not in a state of … unbelief.

Look back at Matthew 17:14-16. A man brought his son to Jesus and said to Him … "I brought him (the boy) to thy disciples, and they could not cure him."

Just before Jesus told His Disciples (in verse 20) to speak to this mountain to remove it out of their way; He called them … faithless.

Matthew 17:17 … "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him (the boy) hither to me."

I think the key here is the word … faithless, or without faith. The word is an adjective which means … likely to betray trust or confidence in something or someone.

I believe doubt and unbelief could possibly be the mountain Jesus was talking about. Wouldn't being without faith or being faithless really be the same thing as having doubt or unbelief? What mountain is bigger than doubt or unbelief when we are praying about a problem or need?

As I said before, at least in my life when I commanded a mountain to move, it has been my experience that it just stayed right where it was. In fact the more I looked at it, the bigger it seemed to grow.

I'm beginning to think that instead of speaking to the mountain, I should have spoken to the doubt … no, I'm going to call it what it was … unbelief.

I'm not saying the mountains we see are not real; they are. The trials and tests; sickness and death are real mountains. But the truth is we don't fix the problems ourselves anyway; God does … that's why we pray. The only thing I am sure about is that God isn't the problem. It's the unbelief in our lives.

Unbelief makes us think God won't answer us; that maybe He's teaching us something; perhaps testing us like Job for some reason or we believe some other lie of the Devil that's easier to except then the truth … which is, that we are just like He said His Disciples were … faithless, operating in unbelief.

Unbelief is the real mountain that stands between the problem and the answer.

Jesus said …"If ye had faith"… that's the only thing that moves God. Faith in Him.

Hebrews 11:6 …"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Again … not only are the words of Jesus lofty, so are the words from the writer of Hebrews … "without faith it is impossible … believe that He is and that He is a rewarder…" God rewards faith, not unbelief.

Although I'm bending the meaning of this next verse a little, Paul wrote in Romans 14:23 … " whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Is unbelief sin?

James 1:1-7 also has something to say about both wisdom and faith during times of trials and testing …

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (various tests) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth (this wisdom) to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; (rail at or chide) and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

I am of the opinion that the wisdom James is speaking about is the wisdom needed when we face these times of testing and even temptations; perhaps the temptation to quit and give up. This wisdom will help you really understand the problem, and will help you direct your faith to God. When the Disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, He basically told them to plant it like a seed and it would grow; in other words put it to use. That's how your faith becomes … unwavering … you exercise it.

But I don't believe Jesus ever intended for us to change the landscape by literally moving mountains or plucking up trees by their roots. He did teach by parables you know; and I believe that's what we have here.

Concerning my personal mountain … praying for the healing of others; is it always because of unbelief … when nothing happens? If what I have suggested in this study is true; then the main reason we don't see every request for healing answered is because of the mountain of unbelief; if so then case closed, that explains it … but I don't think it's that easy.

If God so chooses … is still my answer. As I said in the beginning, something just isn't right. Not with God … the problem is with us.