“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” Mark 11:23
The Bible speaks a good deal about mountains, not only with regard to their physical existence, but what they represent. In the Gospel of Mark we are confronted with Jesus’ words concerning mountains that obstruct a path, or hinder an advance. This mountain could be an opposing army, an insurmountable difficulty or simply the thought of something that is impossible to accomplish or deal with. When the Lord Jesus was speaking of the mountain, whatever the application, He spoke of addressing it in faith. In fact, before addressing the matter of the mountain, He spoke of an attitude of heart, one of faith in God. This faith of which He spoke was not just a trust that one might have in another person or thing. It is a God-given faith, to be wholly centered and focused upon one Object, Christ Himself. The faith that God gives, and the strength and capacity with which it is to be exercised, without any doubt, doublemindedness, or dividedness, is one that is very simple, and yet whole-hearted, for it is only in Christ, for His glory, and according to His will. The application of this faith to the “mountains” of life is then spoken of. Why and how is this so very important in the Christian’s walk with God? The answer resides in the issue of a victorious life, a conquering spirit, and an overcoming experience of proving the faithfulness of God whatever the difficulty or challenge. The believer who “believes”, according to the writing of the Apostle Paul, that “all things work together for good to them that love, God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,” (Romans 8:28) is the same one who believes that, “…in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (8:37) This is the one who again, according to the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians wrote: “NOW, thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.” (2:14)
In the Old Testament, when Moses chose twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan before the people passed over the Jordan to conquer it, there were among the spies two men who had a different spirit, a different heart attitude towards God, and towards that “mountains” that were the enemies of difficulty and opposition that stood to hinder the conquering of the land. Those two men were Joshua and Caleb. Caleb was forty years old at the time, and Joshua was probably about the same age. After spying out the land, and bringing back a report with the other spies to Moses, there were two distinctive perspectives, the first being that of the ten “unbelieving” spies who caused the people’s hearts to melt before the knowledge of the enemies in the land, and the other, being that of faith in the God who had brought the entire nation of Israel out of Egypt, in order to bring them into the land. The hearts of Joshua and Caleb were steadfast, and wholehearted, in their faith in God. They believed without a doubt, that God would give them the victory according to His promises, and the certainty of His provision, even though the “mountains” before them were very real. In other words, these two men saw God in His faithfulness, as being greater than any mountain. And they saw Him also as being totally committed to meeting their every need so that the land could be conquered.
Eventually, after the land was conquered, there came a day when Caleb, then eighty-five years old, would stand before Joshua, and say, “Give me this mountain.” This mountain was Hebron, given to him because of his whole-hearted, unceasing faith in God.
Dear Father, Give us devoted hearts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.