Send to KindleI have a new favorite preacher. He comes on on Sunday morning when I’m getting ready for church. I can get more out of listening to him for three minutes than I get out of most in 30. I’m constantly going, “Man, that’s good. I’ve got to write that down!”
One of the latest revelations from one of his sermons was this: In the verse, “If you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Be thou removed and be cast into the sea,’ and it would obey you…” Listen to that! God says we can talk to mountains and command them to move. I’ve heard this verse many times before, but when Dr. Simpson said, “Understand, in this situation, somebody is talking to somebody,” I stopped like slamming on the brakes. “You see, either you are talking TO the mountain, or the mountain will be talking to YOU, but somebody will be doing some talking!”
I’d never thought about it quite like that before, but think for a minute about the attributes of a “mountain.” It’s BIG for one. Also, we don’t normally think of mountains as being on wheels–i.e. they are tough if not impossible to move. Finally, mountains are just “there.” They don’t seem capable of listening or even caring what we think. They simply stare down at us, proving our smallness to all the world.
Dr. Simpson went on to this effect: You have your own mountains, and you hear them talking. Maybe it’s in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep. They are talking–telling you that you can’t handle this, you are not strong enough to cope with this, that THIS is something you can’t ever fix or find a solution for. That mountain continually taunts you to believe in your smallness. In short it says, “This is too big for you.”
Oh, it’s a mountain all right.
I don’t know what your mountain is. It might be a financial mountain of debt. It might be a mountain of health problems or social problems. Your family might be your mountain or your lack of faith. Your mountain might be going back to school or deciding to stay home and raise your kids. It might be a friend or former friend. It might be someone who’s hurt you terribly. It might even be a dream you thought you had to have but is now slipping from your grasp.
Or maybe it’s another kind of mountain–drugs or alcohol, a habit you simply cannot break, a love you can’t let go of even though you know it’s killing you. Maybe your mountain is your spouse or your children. Maybe it’s yourself.
Whatever your mountain is, I’m quite sure you know its voice well. “You can’t…” “What’s wrong with you…” “Why does this work out for everyone else but never for me…” “Why me…?” “This isn’t fair…” “It’s just not right…” “If only…”
You’ve heard your mountain’s voice. There’s almost no doubt about that. In fact, you may know it by heart. The question is: Has that mountain heard YOUR voice, or even better GOD’S voice?
In order to talk to your mountain, you need some words from The Word–yes, that means The Bible, but it also means The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, you need to start hearing the words of Jesus, spoken into your life on a continual basis, so you will learn how to TELL that mountain to move!
“Mountain, you do not control me because although compared with me, you may be big, compared with my GOD, you are nothing but a grain of dust. Understand me. I am now giving you to my God (that’s the having the faith of a mustard seed part–not trying to deal with this on your own, but learning to give those mountains in your life over to God and His wisdom). I am putting you in God’s hands. I am trusting in God’s love for me more than in the illusion of your power over me. God, please break the illusion of power that this mountain tries to exert in my life. Set me free…”
Talk to that mountain. Talk TO that mountain.
And it will be cast into the sea.
Copyright Staci Stallings, 2008
