Faith moves mountains.
This essentially means to believe and behave as if whatever you asked of God will happen — no matter how grand. Expect God to answer, and He will. This adage is reflected through many examples in the Bible where a person’s simple faith caused the impossible to happen, and it specifically stems in Matthew 17:20-21, when Jesus Christ Himself says, “…if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” A mustard seed is only a couple of millimeters in diameter, a tiny thing. Yet, Jesus says this is a quantity enough to move an entire mountain.
So, if ever we pray and do not see the mountains move, naturally we might believe something is wrong with our faith. It only takes a seed-sized amount, after all; we must not even have that much. Our prayers of yearning turn into pleading cries – please Lord! See my faith, make a way! Yet, the mountain stays put. The waters don’t divide. God is silent.
What do we do? Is this because we did not really believe? Was our faith not true to the desire, to the ask, to the command? Did we only think we had faith when all we had was hope?
It is a critical truth that God answers prayers in ways we do not expect. Sometimes the answer is yes, no, or not yet. Typically, when the mountains don’t appear to be moving, they either aren’t moving at all, or are moving so slowly we cannot discern it. Sometimes God is asking us to respond in some way. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you ask God to move a mountain, expect to wake up next to a shovel”. There are times where our faith will mean action, and God partners with a lot of us (and others) to move those mountains. Sometimes the result depends on our obedience.
Bottom line is, we may not recognize why the mountain isn’t moving. And God does not demand we understand — whatever God’s answer, we are not expected to know why. We are simply expected to trust him. If the answer to our faithful prayer is no or not right now, we are to have an even greater faith that God has a reason. That’s a bible verse to live by: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We have faith that God is good, God is just, and if He has not made a way, it is not the way we should go right now. This is encouraged by the Lauren Daigle song, Trust In You:
When You don't move the mountains I'm needing You to move
When You don't part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don't give the answers as I cry out to You…
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You.
There are times when our faith towards something will not feel like enough, but the real faith is our trust in God. We must be determined to not only believe it, but to live day-to-day like it is true. When the mountain is unmovable, we do not give up, hang our heads, and live in disappointment. We lift our eyes to God. God is trustworthy, and it’s ok if the mountain is still in its place because His other promise is to walk by our side the whole climb. As Moses promised, Joshua in front of all of Israel on God’s behalf: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:6:8). Our mustard seed is the truth that God is alive. We believe He can still do the impossible, even if not right now. We keep praying, keep serving, keep asking, and keep going. Cling to the Father, and to the faith that He is truly with you – on the mountain, in the quiet, in the sea.

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