"So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, "Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea", and it would obey you."
Interesting to me, to look at the scene before us, speaking of continual forgiveness, the disciples respond to Jesus with a plead, "Increase our faith", an obvious recognition that they were in need to complete the task before them. Jesus than goes on to tell us of the power of faith. The be-knonw phrase, "Faith as a mustard seed". Jesus used here, a mustard seed, a seed known to be small, to show that the size is insignificant. It is not about how big your faith is, but how true your faith is. God is not looking for size, He simply seeks a heart that believes. He is seeking for a heart that is willing to cry out in dependence to the source of strength Himself. In the midst of forgiveness to call upon the Savior of the world. In the midst of weakness to call on the One with the mighty arms. In the midst of temptation to call out to the Deliverer. In the midst of despair to call on the Hope of the world. In the midst of weeping to call out to the God of all comfort.
Going on, He describes that to those who have a working faith, a faith that believes and is seeking to grow, they have power over those trees that can block our path from moving forward in our walk. A mulberry tree. Translated from the Hebrew word "bekaim" or "baca", means, "weeping". How often do we find these weeping trees laying upon the pathway of our lives, blocking our view, clouding our vision, or causing us to be inwardly focused. Does not personal weepings commonly cause us to focused on ourselves? I dont think there to be any coincidence to this being pointed out after a call for more faith, for genuine faith.
The enemy loves to cause weeping to come into the lives of believers. Look at Job, or Esther, David, Jeremiah, Paul even Christ is recorded to have wept. The enemy will commonly cause weeping things to happen in our lives to distract us from the task set before us to do. Hereby, Christ commands us that our faith is able to rip these out from the root, cast them into the sea, where they will remain no more.
The end of Jesus' statement strikes me, "It would obey you" I read this in a, "if only..." tone, "it would obey you". or other translations say it "should" obey you, as if Jesus was saying, if only you would have the faith...than you would see.
Christ desires that the weeping trees of our lives, or the impossible circumstances before us, not be walls blocking us from moving forward, but things to strengthen our faith and lead us back to Himself, to recognition of our need of Him, for He alone is the giver of faith. A person who is living by faith is one who is living expecting God to work. Expecting Him to do awesome things. Expecting Him to take our weepings, and turn them into showers of blessings. Not that we would have personal gain but that the roots of sin would be dug up and the Kingdom of God would expand and bloom the more, that His name would be glorified.
Christ desires that we only would offer what faith we have, regardless of the size, and ask for more. That we would not have a perfect faith, but a faith that is humble, a faith that cried out to go deeper, to see beyond the present state and to see Christ work.
Application for myself: How often i allow my weepings to keep me from moving forward--i become self-focused on my struggle; but my Jesus' greatest struggle and greatest weeping of the cross brought me life. Christ is looking for a faith that looks to the cross, looking with eternal vision with the goal and the hope that weeping will be no more (Rev. 21:4). I need to return to that place when these things come my way; the truth of what i deserve; and the grace of what i have been given:
Oh weeping tree
it seems that you are all i can see
tears from day to day
it seems the light is lost, oh where is the way?
Forgive me Christ for allowing my vision to get lost in the fight
Turn my eyes back to Calvary's tree where you suffered, died, and shed your blood for me
Why should i expect such good things, and be surprised when hard times arise?
Increase my faith to run this race,
Take the tears of today, to prepare me to lead others in Your ways
You see all, You know all, so i can trust that all these trees have been formed by Your hands and must submit to Your voice and Your commands.
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