“When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move,
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through,
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You.”
Many of us are probably fairly familiar with this song by Lauren Daigle. It’s certainly a personal favorite. I’ve heard it many times, but the last day or so it’s been on my mind and the words are taking on new meaning. There have been SO many times in life that I see a mountain and think, “God if you will just love this mountain, everything will be just fine!” After all, doesn’t His word say to speak to the mountain and it will move? Surely there’s some fine print there that we don’t read, telling us that occasionally there’s a mountain in our way that simply isn’t meant to be moved. At least not for right now. God doesn’t work on time scales like we do, and the mountain we think has to be moved right now might not be meant to move just yet.
What am I saying here? I’m saying sometimes I stand at the base of the mountain, or on the shores of flood waters, wondering why God isn’t moving. My Bible tells me He has done it. My heart tells me He can do it. Yet my eyes tell me nothing is happening. My faith begins to wonder why He won’t move on my behalf. My mind questions my worth, my situation, and doubt begins to creep in.
Maybe that’s too transparent, but at some point we’ve all stood staring at a mountain we KNOW God can move, and we wonder why it just isn’t moving. It only takes a mustard seed, and surely our faith is that big. Still the situation looms ahead of us, and we begin to doubt everything we see.
This is the point where I usually remind myself that what I see isn’t all there is to my situation. The side of the mountain I can see isn’t the only side the mountain has. While I’m waiting on God to move the mountain, He may be waiting on me to climb it. What if this side is just strength training to help me grow and get to the blessings on the other side? The flood waters I stand and gaze across with no boat in sight may be God’s way of teaching me to swim. Better yet, what if He’s going to teach me to walk on water? Peter never would have walked on those stormy seas if he hadn’t first taken a step out of the boat. As long as I’m on the shore or in the boat, I’m safe from the risk of drowning. I’m also blocked from the miracle of walking on the waters to get to Jesus.
I’ve said before that sometimes we can’t base our actions on what we see, but rather what we know. Sometimes I have to take those words and point them back at myself, reminding myself that what I see isn’t all there is to my situation and to my God. Just because God doesn’t move a mountain when I think He should doesn’t mean He isn’t good or faithful. It’s because of His goodness that He doesn’t always remove every hardship in my life. How can I grow stronger if I never get any resistance? My faith muscles will never grow if they are always pushing against the same weight. It’s when more weight is applied that they begin to work a little harder before and in turn start growing and gaining strength.
Just as Lauren sings, I’ve also stood crying out to God with questions only to get a silent reply. At the rate I talk, probably more questions than He wants to hear. The poor angels at His side probably have a hard time keeping up with me. Even now I could tell you that there are areas of my life that I have big questions marks on. Questions I have. Answers? Not so much. It’s easy to get stuck here in the valley of the unknown, easy to wallow around in a dry place. Eventually my spirit starts yearning for some water, and that dry place just isn’t good enough anymore. (Speaking for myself, that dry place is usually my pity party where I feel sorry for myself and why God just won’t tell me what I think I need to know. Feel free to insert a childish foot stomp here.) Just like a teacher isn’t going to tell you the answers to a Math test before you take it, God isn’t always going to give you every detail of every step He asks you to take.
To pass a test, one must study. So I study the Word. I study how to stretch my faith. I feed my faith muscles some miracle grow by reading about Abraham, Noah, Esther, and Gideon. I get rid of my pity party by going back and remembering Job. Listen friend, we’ve all stood looking up at that mountain. Maybe at this point you’re yelling at it to just get out of your way already. Maybe you’ve exhausted yourself and you’re sitting down, leaned up against this huge thing that just won’t move. You know what? That’s ok. Let out your frustration. Take a moment to regroup. One thing that I’ve come to realize lately is that whatever we’re feeling, God can handle it. He already knows, so why not share it with Him? Give Him your hurts and frustrations, your fears and disappointments. Hand them over to Him at the bottom of your mountain and then take His hand and start climbing. Stretch your faith muscles and follow Him even when the path isn’t clear. Trust Him when the answers aren’t evident and you have no idea how you’re going to make it through tomorrow. Lean on Him when your tomorrows are too much, because yesterday nearly did you in.
I don’t have it all together. I don’t have all the answers. I have mountains and seemingly no climbing gear. I have water with no boat in sight. I have question marks with no replies. I have a God Who is bigger than the sea, the mountain, the storm, and Who holds all the answers in His hands. And if I’ll let Him, He also holds me. It’s easy to be intimidated by the mountain. It’s easy to doubt if we’re going to make it through. Anybody can do that. We all do that. What separates the little engine that could from the little engine that can’t is the willingness to try harder. The willingness to take a chance and believe that I can make it and that I WILL make it. What separates a winner and a loser in a foot race? I’m going to say it’s that last push, that extra burst of “I can make it!” You can make it, sister. We don’t need the answers, the maps, or the plan. We need only our faith in the God that is on our side and to place our trust in Him. When you start putting your trust in Him, eventually those mountains start shifting and the waters start receding. Who knows? Maybe it’s not the mountain that ever needed to move at all. Maybe it was you and me. ❤️
Day in the Life of Five 