“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:23-24)
I saw a reference to the foregoing scripture on my social media page, and the implication that, “God wouldn’t have said to pray, and believe that a mountain could and would be removed, if it weren’t something He was in favor of, and He would do for us.”
However, when I saw this post, I just couldn’t refrain myself from responding with a comment which alluded to Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
Following is the scripture in which Paul speaks of his malady.
“Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me so that I would not become arrogant, I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me.” (2nd Cor. 12:7-9)
Pt. 2
My comment?
“I think we must always compare scripture with scripture.” (and) “It is important to understand that there are generally no ‘cut and dry’ absolutes in scripture. That is, the majority of what we consider biblical promises have ‘built-in’ exceptions attached to them.”
I am the first to affirm that miracles exist in our modern world. I have been the recipient of more miracles than any one man deserves to experience in ten lifetimes.
A five year old son who woke up one day, and proceeded to share a dream he’d had the night before. Steve told us about a four-faced being with the faces of a man, an eagle, an ox and a lion. We had never told him about Ezekiel’s dream.
A few years ago, as I pedaled my bicycle in the wee hours of the morning, I had stopped at an intersection, looked right and saw a man walking down the sidewalk, looked left, and immediately to the right again. The man had disappeared. I had no doubt, whatsoever, that I had seen an angel. Two women were killed in a vehicular accident at that same interaction a week later. I could only presume the angel was, at that moment, in the process of doing a “dry run,” and I just happened along at the time to witness it.
I have experienced as many as eight or ten what I refer to as “near misses” in which I was just a moment away from “checking out” of this world, and from which I was spared.
And the foregoing examples don’t begin to characterize the vast number of miracles to which I have been exposed in my 70 years of life on this planet.
Pt. 3
Does God remove mountains from our pathway? He absolutely does. Speaking of mountains, this week I am all too aware of the existence of mountains. However, much less the spiritual kind, and much more the literal kind.
For you see, my daughter, Kristy, has just gotten back from a trip to Nepal, and stood just a mile from Mt. Everest while she was there. She snapped some good photos and got some videos of that six mile high massive chunk of triangular rock and snow.
And to be sure, I think some of our spiritual mountains are higher, and wider and heavier than Mt. Everest. They are our own personal “Mt. Everest’s.” And they so often seem too tall to climb, too massive to go around, and too hard to tunnel through.
And though, as believers, each and every one of us have experienced these kind of spiritual mountains in our lives, and have prayed, and have seen them crumble before us, each and every one of us have also experienced seasons when our “Mt. Everest’s” have refused to bow, and have remained stalwart, strong, and unyielding before us.
The Apostle Paul experienced what he described as his thorn in the flesh. Some religious scholars have conjected that he had been experiencing trouble with his eyesight. For in Galatians 6:11, he writes, “See what large letters I write with my own hand.” The implication? His eyesight was deteriorating, his writing became progressively larger, and his prayers had returned void; as if his supplications were hitting a glass ceiling.
Pt. 4
I can’t account for my 50 year old daughter’s mental illness, and borderline retardation, and her having had to live in a group home the past three decades. She will never know the kind of life I would have wanted for her. Marriage, vocation, independence, and function. She deserved better.
I can’t account for this mind-bending Tinnitus. Sometimes the ringing in my ears is almost beyond enduring. Some people have literally taken their own lives because they could endure it no longer.
Just a couple of examples of my own spiritual “Mt. Everest’s” that have refused to crumble before me, or for that matter, the Lord, Himself. It is not as if I have not prayed, and believed.
And what are we to do with the martyrs of Hebrews Chapter 11? Read the following excerpt with me.
“Others
were tortured, but refused to curse God, since they were children of the
promise. Some endured mocking and flogging, and the chains of dank, dark prison
cells. They were stoned to death. They were cut in two. They were executed by
the sword. They wore sheepskins and goatskins. They were poor. They were
persecuted. (And the world was, by no means, worthy of them). They lived in
caves and chasms. They wandered in deserts, and stood on the summits of
mountains.” (McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament)
Pt.
5
“I think we must always compare scripture with scripture.”
(and)
“It is important to understand that there are generally no ‘cut and dry’ absolutes in scripture. That is, the majority of what we consider biblical promises have ‘built-in’ exceptions attached to them.”
I can’t account for why there are exceptions to the rule; specifically, to the very promises of God. However, if for nothing else than a practical basis, we know some of our mountains refuse to uproot themselves, and cast themselves into the proverbial sea.
There are too many verses which refer to suffering for suffering to be entirely outside the will of God for a believer’s life. There are too many verses which refer to God’s grace in the midst of suffering for suffering to be an utter impossibility for the child of God.
What are we to do with Peter’s admonition?
“My brothers, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are enduring, as though something strange were happening to you?” (1st Peter 4:12)
And then, we have the remarkably assuring contrast of Romans 8:18
“For I reckon the sufferings of this present life aren’t worthy to be compared to the glory which will be revealed in us.”
And I love the promise of 1st Corinthians 10:13
“But God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able. But will, with the temptation provide you a way of escape.”
Afterward
While I can’t account for why, when it comes to life’s spiritual mountains, there are exceptions to the rule, after more than half a century as a believer, I simply know there are, and if God chooses to make an exception, there’s not a thing we can do about it.
I think the following passage puts it all into perspective; (or at least as much as it can be put into perspective on this side of glory).
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
And, ultimately, I think that has to be enough.
by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending
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