He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 NABRE
A man comes to Jesus and asks Him to cure his boy who is demon possessed. He took the boy to Jesus’ disciples but they could not cure him. Jesus rebukes the demon and the boy is cured from that moment on. Privately Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus why they could not cure the boy? Jesus responds with the quoted verse, they have too little faith. When we read too little faith we can imagine someone who has anxiety about trusting God to provide for them. Jesus has reprimanded His disciples before about their lack of faith (Matthew 8:26; 14:31 and 16:8.) This time Jesus reminds them that if they trusted God and had a little faith, the size of a mustard seed, they could move a mountain, they could do the impossible.
As followers we must have met a dire need and want to challenge this reading. Perhaps it was a friend with cancer, or a family member predicted to die, or a loved one in a coma and we prayed with all the faith we could muster, only to see the predicted path occur, no miracle came, no mountain moved. Is this passage just wrong? I don’t think so, there are many other explanations. Did we really have strong faith, did we publicly declare a miracle is about to occur? That would be strong faith. In our prayer did God instruct us to take certain steps to secure a miracle, but we were unsure and didn’t trust the message? Do we discover years later the path God chose was most likely the best course for everyone, so God knew answering the prayer as we wished would have been a mistake. God always answers!
What is the size of your faith? Are you like the disciples?
Jesus reminds his disciples that if they trusted God and had a little faith, the size of a mustard seed, they could move a mountain, they could do the impossible. God always answers! Click To Tweet#bible’#godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #faith seed #Matthew #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways