The Faith of a Mustard Seed

Trusting God to Take Care of Others

We’ve all struggled at one time or another with our ability to fully trust God. I never truly realized the extent to which I wrestled with Him over even the simplest of things. Yet, I would hear Him whisper to my spirit, “I will protect them. Trust me.”

As the mother of girls I may have had misplaced faith in that fact. After all, girls tend to be more cautious. But, maybe you’re the mother of boys. You might hear God ask you to trust them to His care and immediately begin to think, “Yes, but God do you know how they are? One minute they are reading classic literature and the next they are trying to do a kick flip and a lolly on a skateboard.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t even know what a “lolly” is, but it doesn’t sound good!

Again, He says, “Trust me.”

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20

Misplaced Faith

A friend once shared a story with me. As she meditated over scripture and asked for revelation of what God wanted to show her, she began to pace the floor and pray. Then she heard Him whisper to her spirit to sit down. Obeying God, she sat down in the nearest chair and that is when He dropped the revelation into her spirit.

Sometimes we have more faith in a chair’s ability to sustain us than we do in God’s ability to sustain us.

We never question whether or not the chair will hold us, or if it has a flaw in it somewhere, or whether or not it has secure footing. We certainly don’t question whether or not it loves us enough to hold us up. We just sit. We simply trust. We don’t walk around and test all of the chairs to see which is the strongest or which seems better for the job. We sometimes have more faith in a random inanimate object than we do in our loving and eternal, living God.

How big is that mustard seed?

The Root of Misplaced Faith

My friend also confessed that she now shakes and pushes on chairs almost every time before sitting in them just to make God laugh. God also showed her that another root of not trusting or having little faith, is pride. It is the pride in our own ability to make what we perceive to be better decisions than God; faster response times than God; and more love for our children than God. Yes, she admits, she truly thought, and said it often, that nobody loves her kids like she does. She didn’t mean for that to include God, but obviously, in her heart she had.

You see, the profound part about her chair shaking escapades is that she knew clearly that she didn’t worship a chair or put more trust and faith in it than she did in God. What she began to realize was that her faith was in herself. Her trust was in her knowledge. She knew the chair would hold her because she had sat in it before. She trusted herself more and that is why she now had a problem trusting God with other areas of her life.

RESPOND:

Dear Lord, forgive me for putting more faith and trust in myself than in you. You are my father, my creator, the love of my life. I want to have more than just the faith of a mustard seed. Please help me to do that. Thank you for being such an awesome and loving example. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

RENEWING RESOURCES: 

A Mom After God’s Own Heart: 10 Ways to Love Your Childrenby Elizabeth George is fresh help for you—a busy mom!—to make God an everyday part of your child's life.

REFLECT:

In what areas of your life have you misplaced your faith? Have you recognized it and repented for it?

REMEMBER:

We’ve all struggled at one time or another with our ability to fully trust God.