"Moving Mountains"

[Can Do (Phil 4:13)]

March 31, 2005

"Moving Mountains"

Lysa Terkeurst

Key Verse:

".I tell you the truth, 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 for you." (Matthew 17:20; NIV)

Devotion:

Some people read this verse and get frustrated because they are having faith during a time of difficulty, but the mountains just don't seem to be going anywhere. Such was the case with Mark, one of our two adopted sons from Liberia. In order to take this new life God had had offered him here in America, both he and his brother, Jackson had to leave all that was familiar back in Africa. Part of this journey included realizing that life in America is not nearly as laid back as life in Africa, especially with their education.

Jackson has always been an eager learner, so the transition hasn't been as difficult for him. Mark, however, would just as soon skip the necessity of school. Sometimes education seems, to him, like this huge overwhelming mountain that will only be moved by the miraculous hand of God. He even prays for God to work a miracle and just make the knowledge he needs magically appear in his brain. Though he is a bright kid, necessary life skills using reading, writing and arithmetic prove to be very challenging at times.

Since I'm Mark's primary teacher, I must admit, I too have prayed for God to move this mountain of knowledge right into Mark's brain! The Bible tells us if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for us. Some people read this verse and get frustrated because they have faith and the mountains don't seem to be moving. Such was the case with Mark. Though he was believing and trying, the mountain didn't seem to be moving.

So, Mark decided to try and go around the mountain. The next time I gave him a math test he suddenly was a math wizard and made a whopping 100%! The only problem was he'd copied a one-sentence note to the teacher under the last problem. A sentence that was only on the Answer Key. How my heart broke as I realized he'd cheated.

Though we forgave him and made him retake the math test, his punishment needed to be a visual reminder that moving the educational mountain (rather than attempting to circumvent it) can be done. Art had Mark move a huge pile of rocks from one spot, a short distance, to another spot. The rocks were heavy and could only be moved one at a time. He worked for a long while and felt frustrated that it hardly seemed he'd made any progress. But several hours later, he stood back amazed. The mountain had been moved. Though God could have instantaneously moved it, He chose another way. He gave Mark the strength to move it one rock at a time.

Yes, faith still moves mountains. But sometimes the greater act of faith is not seeing the mountain move instantly, but rather hanging in there while joining God to move it bit by bit.

My prayer for today:

Lord, help us to take each day one at a time and to receive that daily grace we need to deal with life's mountains. Even when they seem like impossible tasks or problems, may we be humble enough to recognize and declare to You that we are weak, so Your strength can take over in our helplessness.

If you want to "go deeper" into today's devotion, click here http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/devotion.htm

[Imamom]

AMEN!