The Mustard Seed Faith

By Bob Berlasty
Ushers Lead

This morning I was reading Joshua. Specifically, the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land. This passage always struck me because it really highlighted the faith of the Israelites. More to the point, their growing faith. When reading the Old Testament, it doesn’t take a scholar to see that the Israelites had a faith problem. They saw the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They were literally provided food from Heaven and in 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, their clothes never wore out. Yet despite all of these miracles, as soon as things started to go wrong, their faith was gone.

What I find interesting about the crossing of the Jordan is that the previous generation had to wait until God parted the Red Sea before they crossed. They had to see the miracle first. A generation later, the priests did not wait until God backed up the Jordan, they proceeded to walk into the swollen river before they witnessed the miracle. Their faith had matured. They had enough faith in God’s Word that they acted as if the miracle had already occurred.

How many of us can relate to the ancient Israelites that wandered the desert? How often to we have faith when things are going well, but lose faith, or at least question our faith when things get tough? God is either faithful to His Word, or He isn’t. As Christians, the latter shouldn’t even register with us, however, that is exactly what happens when we doubt.

In Matthew 17: 20-24, Christ tells us that if our faith were the size of a mustard seed, we can tell mountains to move! We are also told that nothing will be impossible for us. How easy is it to read that compared to how easy it is to really believe it. The problem I see is a problem many of us Christians have. We look at one part of scripture and forget there is often more to it. Christ continues this passage by telling us that this kind of faith comes with prayer and fasting.
I believe Christ was trying to tell us something else. A revelation came to me this morning while I was in prayer. I have been really digging into my prayer time and one thing I have noticed is that the more I pray, the more I see an answer to prayer, specifically seeing my daughters and their significant others in church. That prayer has been answered. I believed before I saw. That tiny act of faith is causing my faith to grow. So, what was my revelation? I believe Christ was telling us more than we read. I don’t think Christ intended for our faith to stay the size of a mustard seed.
You see, the mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds in the world, and yet like all seeds with the proper conditions, will grow into something much bigger and stronger.