Find Your Mustard Seed

A few months ago, my 5 year-old daughter was in the hospital for three days. For three days she was hooked up to IV’s and monitors and was confined to a hospital bed, something that is unbearable for a rough-housing, very busy, very energetic child. At the moment, she is downstairs watching a cartoon and loudly negotiating with our cat, Rudy.

There was no way to prepare for what happened, it was completely unexpected, it just happened and then we had to deal with it. But it’s things like this that cause me to examine the quality and genuineness of my faith, because there’s not always a happy ending. I would be lying if I said I never questioned whether God was gonna pull-through on this one. The truth is, I was tempted to imagine all sorts of terrible outcomes, including losing my youngest daughter and how that would not only impact our lives, but also our faith. It’s things like this which bring us to that place within us where we ask, “Would I still have faith that God is always good? Would I bear witness to the world of a stable faith in God, or will I crash and burn? Would God really make me suffer like this?” This is the real side of the Christian faith that we don’t often discuss….the temptation to doubt, the temptation to question. Whether we indulge in it is a different story, but this temptation affects us all at some point or another. Maybe I just speak for myself when I say that I have found myself eyeballin’ that ledge, fighting against all doubt and fear of one day falling off of it. All Satan has to do is keep us focused on that ledge so we don’t look up the mountain to the higher-up that God is calling us toward.

We must understand that we will encounter temptations of all sorts in our walk with Christ. Even Jesus was tempted, but He resisted, He didn’t indulge in them. We must also understand that our degree of faith is not the product of our own will, it is a gift from God (Rom 12:3). Your faith is a gift and it is something that God is always working to fill up into its full measure and to refine through your daily life circumstances. That is why we must never compare our faith to anyone else’s, because we will walk away with a warped perception of either our lack or our excess. The visible, external witness of your faith is directly related to your inner level of trust in God, and every single day of your life it will be exercised to one degree or another. Some days you will do well, some days you won’t, but you must never allow anything to come between you and your trust in God. That includes the illness of or, God forbid, the death of your child. That includes whatever our sufferings may be, whatever persecutions we face, even unto death.

I’m going be brutally honest here, because it may just save you one day. I think one of the many, many reasons we are told that vast numbers of people leave the church in the end days is because they don’t hold onto the truth that God is always good and always trustworthy regardless of our circumstances. The temptation to doubt will overcome many and they will fall into either despair or bitterness. I've wrestled both of those dragons. However, the good news is, that even though we may not be able to prepare for whatever circumstances may befall us, we can prepare our faith. The Apostles understood that faith comes from God, therefore they asked Jesus, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5). And Jesus responded to them, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed….” Find your mustard seed, make your stand, face that dragon, and start praying for God to increase your faith. The Spirit in you is far greater than any dragon you may face. I have to remind myself of that regularly.

In the days ahead, if you find yourself in the midst of a trial and you look down at your tired, trembling hands and all you see is a tiny mustard seed, God will meet you there. God will meet you at your mustard seed. Trust Him to stand by His word, no matter what your circumstances end up looking like. Hang onto that mustard seed for all it’s worth, even if that’s all you have to hang onto at some point. Don’t let Satan rob you of it, don’t let it go, no matter what happens, hang onto that tiny seed of trust with all you’ve got and cry out to God to make up your lack. Make that mustard seed your anchor, make it your Ebenezer, and hang onto it for all it’s worth. Because that mustard seed is worth your very soul.

“The Apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord answered, ‘If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted into the sea,” and it will obey you.’” (Luke 17:5,6)

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far, the Lord has helped us.’” (1 Sam 7:12)

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is more precious than mere gold. So, when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. Though you have not seen Him you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, now that you are receiving the goal of your faith: the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:7-9)