Matthew 17:20-21 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

I’ve always wondered whether verse 21 was inserted by some copyist to give us “wiggle room,” because what Jesus said in verse 20 is so powerful and absolute. The NIV leaves verse 21 as a footnote, saying “Some manuscripts.” The Japanese puts it in brackets, but leaves it with the rest of the text. The thing is, from our perspective, Jesus’ statement in verse 20, “Nothing will be impossible for you,” simply isn’t true, and that creates a major problem. In his first letter John wrote that “faith is the victory,” (1 John 5:4) but we can also say, “faith is the mystery.” There is so much we really don’t know about faith. I’ve heard Yongi Cho say that only about 30% of the people his church prays for get healed, and they don’t know why. At the same time, they do know that if they didn’t pray, even those 30% wouldn’t get healed. I think the key may be in the fact that Jesus used a mustard seed to talk about spiritual things, both faith and the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:18-19) Seeds grow. Mustard seeds are so small as to be a real pain to deal with, but they have the genetic code, the life, in them to grow into something quite significant, as the Luke passage points out. Our faith will not be completely pure as long as we are on this earth, but the more we exercise it, the more it will grow, and the end result can be glorious. Childlike faith can be astounding. I remember one time when our older daughter was about four years old and she and her mother were walking down the hill in Sasebo to go shopping. She tripped and fell, scratching her hand, and was crying. My wife said, “Let’s ask Jesus to heal it,” and said a simple prayer. Our daughter’s tears dried up immediately and she went back to skipping along happily. Remembering it later in the day, my wife asked to see her hand, which had been bleeding right after the fall, and she couldn’t even find where the cut had been. Sometimes I think we need to get younger in our thinking, rather than older! A famous saying goes, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” It might be even better to say, “God said it. That settles it.” Our faith can be very unreliable!

I’ve been given a gift of faith, apparently more than some people receive, but I still can’t say I have it figured out. I have complete assurance that God is real and that He loves me. Beyond that, things get grey in a hurry! It is precisely because we can’t see the future, we don’t have all the answers, that faith is so essential. Back on June 17^th I wrote about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who famously stated they believed God could rescue them, but even if He didn’t, they would be true to Him. (Daniel 3:17-18) That’s the kind of faith I want. Faith is still a mystery to me, but I am deeply grateful for it. I guess if it weren’t a mystery, it wouldn’t be faith!

Father, thank You indeed for faith. Thank You for the many times when I don’t know, whether the thing in question is big or small. Help me trust You precisely when I don’t know, so that Your perfect plan may be manifested in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!