Can you think of a challenge you’ve faced that seemed impossible? Maybe, you’re facing a situation today that seems hopeless. I know I am.
At times we become “stuck.” We’ve tried everything we know to do to get “un-stuck.” Still, despite our best efforts to solve the dilemma, our predicament appears to be insurmountable.
Well-meaning friends who offer encouragement with statements like “Just have faith” mean well. But those well-intentioned words can also sting.
Lord, I want to believe, but nothing is changing. Things are getting worse, not better. How can I have more faith? What’s wrong with me?
Perhaps it’s not a matter of having more faith.
Jesus’ disciples tried unsuccessfully to free a boy from an evil spirit. “Why could we not cast [the evil spirit] out?” they asked Jesus. Jesus replied:
“Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20 (ESV)
Is Jesus suggesting they need more faith? No! With his example of a grain of mustard seed, he reveals it’s not the size or quantity of our belief that matters, it’s our focus.
When Abraham and Sarah were too old to have a child, they focused on God, not their impossible situation.
The Virgin Mary was given a message by the angel that she would become impregnated by the Holy Spirit. She was powerless to change an impossible situation. However, she could realign her focus: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
Impossible situations do not require more faith;
they necessitate a realignment of our focus!
When I become fixated on my impossible challenge, I view the problem through the lens of “what is.” By realigning my focus upon God, I see impossibility through the lens of “what if.”
A realigned focus moves impossibility to probability.
Why not begin today to use the “little faith” we have to help us shift our focus from “what is” to “what if”? After all, nothing is impossible with God.
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