Faith Like a Mustard Seed

Some time back, I watched a film called "Little Boy" (2015). It the story of a physically small boy (presumably with dwarfism) who's dad/best friend has to go to war during the WWII conflict with Japan. He wants to end the war and bring his dad home. After attending a magic show, and being called upon by the magician as a volunteer, to stretch out his hands and telekinetically move a bottle across a table, the boy is convinced he has a magical power. One day, the Catholic priest (yes, the film is grounded in Catholicism, but it still has a valuable lesson) preaches on the text of 'having faith of a mustard seed', and how this is the key to ending the war. When the boy talks to the priest later, asking him how to use the mustard seed's power to supplement his magic (he took the text literally and got a mustard seed), the priest asks him to demonstrate his power and move a bottle across the desk.

   Of course, this fails. But the boy persists, and its obvious he's really trying desperately. Suddenly, the priest grabbed the bottle and moved it across the desk. "There", he said, "the bottle moved".
   "No it didn't, you moved it!" The boy argued.
"Because you moved me to move it. You wanted the bottle to move so badly, that you convinced me to move it for you. And that is sort of how faith works" the priest replied.

That's as much of the film as I'm going to discuss. It is worth watching for yourself. But I wanted to use it as an illustration that it is, indeed, sort of how faith works. No, if we want something bad enough, God isn't just going to reach a point where he snaps and gives us the whatever. But if we want it to happen enough, we believe it can happen enough, we believe He will do it enough, and (here's the key) if HE wants it, it can and will happen.

Here's another illustration.  Noah hears that a big flood is coming. God tells him to build an ark. Noah wanted to survive the flood. He believed God could provide a way. He believed God WOULD provide a way. God did. Noah believed that the way God provided would succeed. He believed the ark would outride the flood. He believed God had given him blueprints for saving his life. Thats what happened.

Everyone else, they didn't believe there was a flood. They didn't believe God would provide a way out. They didn't believe the ark would be the key to survival. At least not till it was too late.

Abraham wanted a son. He believed God could and would give him one. But he did not believe that the way God provided would succeed. He provided his own way. Ever since, Ishmael's family has never ceased to be a thorn in Israel's side.

The point is, faith in something you can't see (or hear, smell, taste, touch) is one of the most powerful spiritual tools out there. The others are hope in the midst of absolute hopelessness, and love that knows no boundaries.

Again, God isn't a vending machine. Faith probably won't magically turn your old clunker of a car into a 2016 Corvette. Sometimes the sick may stay sick, the dead may stay dead. But with faith in the picture, things do happen. We don't always see the bigger picture, but there again, that's what faith is all about.

I believe with all my heart, no matter what God does in this situation, its part of a bigger, perfect plan, that, though I can't see it, God will use it to do what He knows is best for me.