Have you ever attended a Bible conference or an especially moving worship concert? You are then familiar with the “high” you feel from having spent some serious time in God’s holy presence. You may feel like you have a superpower. You may see everything in a beautiful light. You are certainly in a place of calm, expectant hope, with the joy of the Lord overflowing.
Then you step back into reality. There are bills to pay. There are meetings to attend. It may be time to go back to work and face that stress. The dose of reality waiting for you after your “mountaintop experience” can be especially cruel and abrupt. So, too, for Jesus and his disciples today as they came down from the mountain. A situation had arisen that needed Jesus’ attention.
It should come as no surprise that there was a crowd waiting. I’m sure that was getting to be commonplace these days. There was no denying Jesus was creating quite a stir in the region. The disciples who had remained behind had tried their best to take care of the needs of the people. But there was one demon who was giving them fits.
Facing this abrupt dose of reality, Jesus healed the boy in an instant. Yet, he was a bit indignant, frustrated to be sure with his disciples. Again, Jesus calls them out on their lack of faith. That’s what the problem was. They didn’t have enough trust in God’s power. Ouch! They had obviously tried. Their failure alone was probably enough of a slap in the face. Their confidence was a bruised, too.
Jesus said if they had had enough faith they could have even told a mountain to move. I have always marveled at the thought of that. A mountain. We have mountains all around us here where we live, and to imagine one moving because of a command seems unfathomable. I guess my faith is too small, too.
How do we know if our faith is sufficient? That’s a really good question. I think we have to assume that our amount of faith always has room for improvement. We never want to take God for granted. We don’t want to assume we are done growing. We have been given a lifetime to grow closer to our Creator. We should always be stretching ourselves.
Our God is bigger than any problem we may face. We should never try to contain him in our own understanding. To do that stunts our faithfulness. Take some time today to just be still in the Lord’s presence. Allow yourself to feel him. You can trust him with your life.
Let’s pray. Lord, thank you that you love me despite my failings. I know my faith can be stronger because I don’t think I can move mountains. Help me to trust you more. May my self-limiting beliefs be replaced with belief in your power. Help me to tap into that and to always do your will. If at first I don’t succeed, let me trust more and try again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
