Faith

          You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:2)

          Jesus replied, “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. (Matthew 21:21)

          For years, I have pruned the branches growing out of a sassafras stump. I have hoped that it would die off and rot away, but it hasn’t. I dreaded the Herculean effort it would require to remove it. Of course, from what I’ve written already, you can guess the rest of the story. This morning, for some reason, I decided it had to be removed. I set it in my planner that between today and the end of September, I was going to do what was necessary to remove it. I even considered having someone come in and grind it out, but before I did something I’d have to pay for, I decided I had to try to do it in a way that might end up with my paying a higher price (e.g. injury.)  And, as the obvious story unfolds, I can now tell you at that 8:48 a.m. on 5 August 2020, the root is in the trash. No, I don’t plan to try to make sassafras tea, as there are concerns about toxins in sassafras and I don’t have the knowledge to handle it in a way that I think is safe.

          Earlier this summer, I announced that it would likely take me all summer to complete my window glazing project. I don’t recall how long it took me, but with the exception of the windows I cracked and had to get replaced, I think it was a couple weeks.

          Now, let me take a moment to tell you what I am not going to tell you in this post. I am not going to tell you that Jesus wasn’t referring to a literal mountain. I am not going to tell you that He didn’t mean that the literal mountain would not be removed to the actual sea if we had sufficient faith. That is not what is being said here. 

But just as there are real mountains that could – had we the faith – be cast into real seas, there are also mountains and seas in our minds. We look at 16 windows, or a cursed tree stump, or a scene in a book, or the number on the scale, or the clutter around the house, or ________, and think we can’t do it. We’re sure it’s going to be so hard. It will take all summer. It will take 7 weeks. We may have to all in professionals. Yes, we make mountains out of molehills.

So, let’s not bother ourselves for the moment about actual mountains and literal seas. What are the things you’re procrastinating about because it looks too hard? What “tree stumps” have been growing in your garden that you’ve been hoping will die and that you figure will take seven or eight weeks to dig out? Go ahead, make a list, then choose one.

Now, let me point out what Jesus doesn’t say in the passage above. He doesn’t say, that God will move the mountain. Yes, it takes faith to believe that God can and will remove mountains for us. He does. But the verse does not absolutely promise that our part is limited to having faith. It can involve our acting toward the goal in faith that it is going to happen. If we have faith that the mountain will be removed to the sea, we’re more likely to buy dynamite and rent equipment. If we don’t have faith that the mountain will be removed, we won’t bother.

So often, we think of faith is trusting God that He is going to do something while we sit in our recliners watching. We do need to be careful that we’re not moving ahead of God. We don’t want to be like Abram and Sarai who decided to help God out by bringing Hagar into the situation, but if we have faith that God will answer our prayer for rain, we’ll bring an umbrella. If we want the stump out of the garden, we’ll stop waiting for it to die and rot away and grab a shovel, with the attitude that if it takes 8 weeks, we’re going to put in the work and let God direct the outcome.