God's Math
By Michelle Rocker
In Matthew 17, we are told that Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain where they see an amazing, hope-building sight. Jesus appearance changed right in front of them and he was filled with light. The Message version says, Sunlight poured from His face. (vs.2)
Peter is one of my favorite disciples, because he is always putting his foot in His mouth. He makes me feel like there is hope for me! Peter gushes about what a fantastic moment this is. He wanted to build a monument right there, in that very spot to recognize this glorious event. This next part cracks me up. He was blabbing on and on (a man after my own heart), when a deep voice from a magnificent cloud said, This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him. (vs.5)
Get this? They were terrified. Evidently, so terrified they closed their eyes, and Jesus had to touch them. Then, and only then, did they open their eyes, relieved to only see Him.
I have found out that after a hope building sight, Satan immediately tries to come in and start destroying it. We have to be on guard even more so after a “mountain top experience.”
As they went down the mountain they ran into a crowd. A desperate father falls to His knees, and begs Jesus to heal his demon possessed son. He then tattletales on the disciples and informs Jesus that he had brought his son to the disciples and they could not heal him. I can almost see Jesus rolling his eyes.
Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here." (vs. 18, 19: The Message) Jesus then commanded the demon to come out and it was gone. The disciples were blown away, and asked Jesus, “Why couldn’t we do that?”
By this time, I bet that Jesus was past rolling his eyes and slowly counting to ten in frustration! I would have been. I love how the NIV quotes Jesus response. “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.”
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is about the same size as the periods in my sentences on this page. It isn’t very much, and Jesus says it just takes that tiny, miniscule amount of faith to move a mountain. While it adds up in Jesus mind, I confess that I was a little confused by these visual mathematics. Me, having this small mustard seed of faith, and I can move a mountain? Huh?
Kids are great. They are untarnished by the world, untainted. I ran a daycare out of my home during my twenties. I had one son at the time, and watched six boys full-time. Yep, that is seven boys! Douglas was a doll baby. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and plump little cheeks. He was three years old, and worshiped Superman and Veggie Tales. He would waltz in every morning clutching his Veggie Tale video of choice in his chubby little hands. Some days, he would “fly” in with his Superman cape. I knew that day would be filled with him jumping off of anything he could get the courage to stand on. He was struggling with the whole potty training thing, and I had to ask him if he had to go. As most kids do, he would stand there with his legs clamped together, wiggling back and forth playing whatever story his imagination had come up with. One day, I could tell he was in desperate need to use the bathroom.
I walked over and said, “Douglas, do you have to go number one or number two?” He looked up at me quizzically, so I explained, “Number one is pee-pee, and number two is poo-poo.”
He whole countenance lit up with understanding. He proudly announced, “I have to go number six!”
We aren’t much different then Douglas. We think we understand the math, but God shakes his head. He explains, and we exclaim, “I got it!” but we don’t. Until you drop a mustard seed into your jar, you will never know the success of moving the mountains out of your life. My mountains are depression, anxiety, fear, shame. For you, it might be a divorce, an abortion, your childhood abuse, your drug or alcohol abuse, financial strain, you fill in that blank. Those are some rough mountains to push out of the way, but you are not going to see the other side, unless you have a miniscule mustard seed of hope that you can move that mountain out of your life. Don’t worry about the math, just drop that mustard seed in, and stand back and watch God move that mountain.
By Michelle Rocker
In Matthew 17, we are told that Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain where they see an amazing, hope-building sight. Jesus appearance changed right in front of them and he was filled with light. The Message version says, Sunlight poured from His face. (vs.2)
Peter is one of my favorite disciples, because he is always putting his foot in His mouth. He makes me feel like there is hope for me! Peter gushes about what a fantastic moment this is. He wanted to build a monument right there, in that very spot to recognize this glorious event. This next part cracks me up. He was blabbing on and on (a man after my own heart), when a deep voice from a magnificent cloud said, This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him. (vs.5)
Get this? They were terrified. Evidently, so terrified they closed their eyes, and Jesus had to touch them. Then, and only then, did they open their eyes, relieved to only see Him.
I have found out that after a hope building sight, Satan immediately tries to come in and start destroying it. We have to be on guard even more so after a “mountain top experience.”
As they went down the mountain they ran into a crowd. A desperate father falls to His knees, and begs Jesus to heal his demon possessed son. He then tattletales on the disciples and informs Jesus that he had brought his son to the disciples and they could not heal him. I can almost see Jesus rolling his eyes.
Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here." (vs. 18, 19: The Message) Jesus then commanded the demon to come out and it was gone. The disciples were blown away, and asked Jesus, “Why couldn’t we do that?”
By this time, I bet that Jesus was past rolling his eyes and slowly counting to ten in frustration! I would have been. I love how the NIV quotes Jesus response. “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.”
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is about the same size as the periods in my sentences on this page. It isn’t very much, and Jesus says it just takes that tiny, miniscule amount of faith to move a mountain. While it adds up in Jesus mind, I confess that I was a little confused by these visual mathematics. Me, having this small mustard seed of faith, and I can move a mountain? Huh?
Kids are great. They are untarnished by the world, untainted. I ran a daycare out of my home during my twenties. I had one son at the time, and watched six boys full-time. Yep, that is seven boys! Douglas was a doll baby. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and plump little cheeks. He was three years old, and worshiped Superman and Veggie Tales. He would waltz in every morning clutching his Veggie Tale video of choice in his chubby little hands. Some days, he would “fly” in with his Superman cape. I knew that day would be filled with him jumping off of anything he could get the courage to stand on. He was struggling with the whole potty training thing, and I had to ask him if he had to go. As most kids do, he would stand there with his legs clamped together, wiggling back and forth playing whatever story his imagination had come up with. One day, I could tell he was in desperate need to use the bathroom.
I walked over and said, “Douglas, do you have to go number one or number two?” He looked up at me quizzically, so I explained, “Number one is pee-pee, and number two is poo-poo.”
He whole countenance lit up with understanding. He proudly announced, “I have to go number six!”
We aren’t much different then Douglas. We think we understand the math, but God shakes his head. He explains, and we exclaim, “I got it!” but we don’t. Until you drop a mustard seed into your jar, you will never know the success of moving the mountains out of your life. My mountains are depression, anxiety, fear, shame. For you, it might be a divorce, an abortion, your childhood abuse, your drug or alcohol abuse, financial strain, you fill in that blank. Those are some rough mountains to push out of the way, but you are not going to see the other side, unless you have a miniscule mustard seed of hope that you can move that mountain out of your life. Don’t worry about the math, just drop that mustard seed in, and stand back and watch God move that mountain.
copyright © 2008 Michelle Rocker. All rights reserved.