“He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, 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.” Matthew 17:20 NIV
A little over a week ago, I wrote about the account of the demon possessed boy that is captured in Matthew chapter 17. At that time, I wrote about the idea that the father was not sure that Jesus could help his son, but was asking anyway. Today I would like to write about how the disciples responded to Jesus after He performed the miracle. They spoke with Jesus in private and told Him that they had tried to cast the demon but were not able to do it. They wanted to know why they could not do it.
Jesus tells them that they have little faith. He compares faith to a mustard seed, which is very small, and tells them that it takes a small amount of faith to do amazing things. During my research through commentaries, the idea that they possibly had misplaced their faith, relying on themselves, was considered.
We don’t know what was in the hearts of the disciples at the moment that they were trying to cast out the demon. We don’t know where they were placing their faith. If they placed their faith in anyway in themselves as the ones who were performing the miracle, they would be misplacing their faith. That would be considered pride and would have stopped them from being successful in casting out the demon.
When we place our faith in ourselves to do amazing things and not God, then it doesn’t matter how much faith we have, it is misplaced. If we believe that the source of any great thing we accomplish, miracle level or just fantastic level, is ourselves, then we need to reevaluate where we believe the power to do those amazing things is coming from. It is not coming from us, but from God who is working through us.
If we are experiencing pride or anything else that can get in the way of being an open vessel for God to use, we should go to God in prayer and ask for direction about how to handle it. He will reveal it for us so that so we can address whatever it is that is getting in the way of us placing our faith in Him where it belongs.
Where are you placing your mustard seed sized faith, in yourself or God?