Imagine yourself out in your yard picking up some sticks. This isn't just an ordinary yard pick up day. You are picking up sticks in order to make a fire that will cook a last meal for both you and your son. It's a pretty bleak day. You expect death to be upon you soon after.
You see there has been a famine in the land for quite some time. In your kitchen sits just a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour. Enough just to make one final meal. You've probably been meagerly portioning out meals in the hopes that the famine would end before this day came, but it didn't.
So here you are, prepping your last meal. You're preparing yourself for one last taste of goodness before hunger turns death. I wonder if you are determined to just let fate happen. I wonder if there is any hope at all. I wonder if you are walking around in a delayed sense hoping your circumstances will change. I wonder if there is just a little bit of hope that the God that freed the Israelites from slavery would make a miracle happen for you and your son.
The Bible tells us of a woman in the Bible that was doing just this. While she was picking up sticks to prepare her meal a man of God walks up to her and asks not just for water, but for a little bit of food as well. She tells the man that she has just enough flour and oil to make one last meal for her and her son and that they then planned to die. The prophet, Elijah, tells her go on and make a cake for him first, then one for her and her son. He then promises her that if she does that, she and her son will not go hungry the rest of the famine. Of course, we know that when we read the story, the woman follows Elijah's orders and the Bible tells us that the flour and oil never ran out during the remaining time of the famine.
I wonder what that woman thought when Elijah told her to take what little food she had saved for her and her son's last meal and make a meal for him first and then them. What? WHAT? Didn't you just hear me preacher man? I said I'm making our last meal and then we are going to die! The Bible doesn't tell us what exact emotions ran through the widow's mind, the doubts that plagued her or even maybe some resentment that she was feeling. It only tells us that she went and did as the prophet bade her to do and because of her obedience her and her son never died of starvation.
Jesus told us in Matthew 17, that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed that we could tell a mountain to move and it would move. The verse finishes by saying, "nothing would be impossible".
Faith takes obedience! Faith takes doing what I can do and then letting God do the rest! Faith takes trust! Faith takes love! Faith takes WORK! But with it... nothing is impossible!
Hebrews 11 is a great chapter on faith. It starts off by defining faith for us. It's something that we can't see physically, but hope for with our spiritual eyes. It tells us about men of the Old Testament and how they did actions based on faith. Verse 6 even tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. The rest of the chapter goes through even more Old Testament figures that used their faith muscles.
None of these people were perfect. Some had made big mistakes. Take for instance Sarah who was old. God promised her a son. When she first heard it she laughed. If I were in my nineties I'd probably laugh as well I think. However, God still performed a miraculous work and gave her a son that would be a start of a great nation.
I want mustard seed faith. I want the faith that says "move mountain" and it moves. I want that faith that would go and prepare my last meal for another person trusting that God would provide as promised. I want faith that believes the impossible is possible through my God. I want it!
Lord, give me that mustard seed faith. Give me that unwavering faith. Give me faith that will move mountains. Help me to learn to love you so much that I see that nothing is impossible with you! I have requests Lord! Things I selfishly want for my life. Things I want for others. I need that faith. Give me mustard seed love! Give me mustard seed faith!
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