A gentle reminder

January 16, 2025

SOMETIMES OUR WORDS come back to bite us like an aggressive guard dog, saying, “Watch out!” And sometimes they come back like a faithful pup, nuzzling up and saying, “You know, you’re kind of a sorry specimen sometimes, but I just want to remind you that I love you nonetheless.”

Such was the case recently, after sharing a turn-of-the-year message at our church. I spoke about looking forward to 2025 and believing that God can move the mountains that are in our lives. If all we have is a mustard seed of faith, I encouraged people, that’s all God needs to work with.

I reminded folks that many of the men and women included in heaven’s great Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11) had their weaknesses. Gideon felt inadequate, Barak was insecure, Samson struggled with impurity, and Jephthah was impulsive. Yet God worked with the faith they could muster and grew it.

Faith, I suggested, is the joyful expectation of God’s goodness: whatever the situation, whatever the circumstance, He can somehow, some way, sometime bring good out of it. All we have to do is keep showing up.

But anybody else find it easier sometimes to believe for others than yourself? In my case, the following day found me doubtful and discouraged because of a challenging work situation. The headache wasn’t of my causing, but it had become my responsibility to fix, leaving me feeling a little stressed. I prayed for a God solution, but it was more like a half-hearted plea.

Then came a phone call from the client. I tensed, ready to try to explain the situation. But instead of having to address an overdue problem, the client offered a solution. The caller explained they needed to delay the project because of circumstances I knew nothing about.

What a relief. I had been worrying needlessly because, working with all I knew, I could not see a way through. But there was more going on than I was aware of—and isn’t that just always the case? Whatever we are facing, God “is able do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

As the opening words of Hebrews 1 remind us, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We don’t need to be able to work it all out; we just need to give God our mustard seed and trust Him with it.

Maybe, like me, you just need a little nudge-reminder of that today.

Photo: Pixabay