All things are possible for those who believe

The story is told of a little old lady who lived at the base of a mountain. She had heard that if she believed she could tell the mountain to be uprooted and thrown into the sea. So she mustered all the faith she could, and commanded the mountain to do just that. The next morning she looked out of the window to see that the mountain was still there. “I knew it wouldn’t move,” she said.

Between this story, and the story of the little boy who defined faith as believing what you know is not true, there is true faith. The writer to the Hebrews defines faith as the the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Jesus is our example of someone who had true faith. He tells us that he does only those things which he sees His Father do (John 5:19). What He is saying is that true faith has to do with receiving some sort of download from the Father, and then acting on that download.

My recent experience of believing that the less invasive procedure for filling the hole in my granddaughter’s heart comes to mind. It was something that I had prayed for. Looking back I can see that the Lord had actually put a check in my spirit when I learned what the doctors were suggesting a less invasive procedure which ultimately did not work. With 20/20 hindsight I am feeling that was a gentle nudge telling me that this was too easy. So I am thinking that the problem was that I really wanted to believe that this was of the Lord, and my desire for it to be true, took over. I suspect that this happens a lot, and is a huge source of (inappropriate) disappointment with God.

So, at least for me, all the confusion, all the wrestling, all the self talk of my telling myself I don’t understand, sprung from hearing what I wanted to hear, rather than what I now believe the Lord was trying to tell me.

Some no doubt, will regard what I have just said as a cop out, a way of excusing God for not answering my prayer. But for me, it’s a deeper lesson in discerning and praying “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In the end it’s all about our relationship with Him, about learning to hear His voice, and learning to discern it from my own, and from the fellow with pitchfork’s voice.

Father, the propensity to fool ourselves is huge. Please keep me close and help me to discern your voice from the other voices that would seek to distract me from my walk with you. In Jesus name amen