Photo by, Chuck Szmurlo
When I first read this verse I thought, "How strange. Who would ask that of God, and would he really do it?" I thought it would be handy for land developers, but I didn't see how that prayer would help me. I was taking what he said literally.
I knew Jesus spoke in parables and a lot of what he said had a deeper meaning. But this verse didn't seem like that to me. I thought he meant we could actually pray for a mountain to move.
What I like about reading the Bible on Kindle is that I can close the page, go on-line and go to Bible Hub. Any word or verse I don't understand is there. I look up the verse and then go to the Commentary section. I did this with the verse about the mountain.
It turns out that in Jewish literature a mountain stood for the difficulties of life. Aha, the great light dawns. And I can tell you from experience that Jesus was telling the truth. Any difficulty I have had, if I believed God could help me with it, he did. He helped me in a big way.
There have been times when I didn't know what to do and he has shown me. There have been times when I needed a rest from my family and he showed me where to go. Then there were all the times with little things, like what to cook for dinner. (This is still a big deal for me. Lol) But God always takes the difficulty I'm experiencing and throws it into the sea.
I used to have trouble with belief. I knew I couldn't drum up belief from somewhere deep inside me and hand it to him. I finally realized belief is knowing God loves me, he can do anything and I can trust him to only do what is good for me. I ask for something, knowing he knows whether he should grant that request. I trust his answer. I wouldn't want it any other way.
When I was young, I would say, "Oh, please God do this or that." I don't pray that way any longer. I know he is happy to hear my prayer and happy to grant it if it is for the best. I've only learned this through many years of living and seeing how his way is always the best way.
