This morning I felt defeated. Overwhelmed. Ready to
give up believing that God will be faithful to take care of what concerns me. (Psalm
138:8 “The Lord will accomplish what concerns you.”) I thought of all the
prayers, all the Bible study, all the journal entries –all my hopes and dreams
for my family. These things “concern” me—they concern me deeply. Sometimes just
bringing each of their needs to the Lord in prayer magnifies the vastness of the
needs and the intense evil of the circumstances and culture that work against
us.
Matthew 17:20 “if you have faith the size of a
mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it
will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”
Learning that I can pour my heart out before God like
the psalmists did transformed my life. It has been my lifeblood – my sanity-preserver. What my feet run to do when I get out of bed in the morning. (after I grab my coffee!) In Psalm 62:8, God tells us “Pour out your heart before Him.” But I am beginning to see that that I don’t need to spend a lot of time describing the mountains to God.
He already knows what they are. Rather, turn my attention on the mountain
mover -- His glory, His power and His faithfulness. I must intentionally shift
my focus from the size of the mountain to the sufficiency of the mountain-mover.
I remembered the story of the twelve spies Moses
sent to check out the Promised Land. Ten came back trembling at the size of the
cities, armies and giants. Two came back
saying “the God who is faithful promised He would give us the land, so let’s go
in His strength.” The two didn’t deny the size of the obstacles, but turned
their focus on the sufficiency of the One who promised. They remembered the
character and promises of the God who had already proven Himself by delivering
them from Egypt.
Like the two spies, I will remember the Lord! I will
remember His Word, His Name, His character and His ways! I won’t deny the mountains but rather set my
focus on the mountain- mover.
