The disciples are once again on a boat on the Sea of Gallilee-this time without Jesus. Once again a storm rises. Reminds me of Mel Whirley & me-seems we could hardly get a boat on the lake to fish without a storm rolling over us. We never saw Jesus walking across the water toward us, though He did see us through a couple of pretty bad thunderstorms. When the disciples saw Jesus, Peter said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." They thought it was a ghost. I'm thinking Peter may have been trying to prove that it was. I wonder if he was more shocked that Jesus said, "Come!" than he would have been if it had been a ghost. But, nonetheless, he'd painted himself into a corner, so he stepped out of the boat and actually started walking on water, too! Then he saw the wind and the waves and the blowing rain and mist and became afraid. I think any of us would have, at least our 1st time out walking on water. He began to sink and cried out, "Lord, save me!" The story concludes in Matthew 14:31 - "And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'"
Faith walks on water. Doubt sinks. Faith looks on Him. Doubt looks at the storm. But even when you find yourself sinking, look once again to Him and He will lift you up. Doubt is the third thing that turns faith to "little faith." If the significance of mustard seed faith is that it is small, is it bigger than "little faith?" Mustard seed faith can move a mountain. Little faith couldn't even keep Peter on top of the water!
In Matthew 16:6-11, Jesus told His disciples to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. His disciples decided it was because they had not brought bread for their journey. Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?"
In this example, it's failure to remember and lack of understanding that prompts the description "you men of little faith." What has God done for you? Did He not take on flesh and blood that He might render of no effect the work of Satan in the world? What Satan did to separate men from God by sin, Jesus undid to reconcile you to God by His own righteousness, by His torn flesh that opened the veil into the holy of holies, and by His shed blood that cleanses away your sins. Is it not true that "He who began a good work in you will perfect it"? Do you not understand that "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"
Finally, in Matthew 17:14-20, we have the last example of little faith. Jesus comes down from the mountain after being "transfigured"-a glorious encounter with His Father with Peter, James and John as witnesses. He finds the rest of the disciples unable to help a man who had come seeking healing for his son. After He casts a demon out of the boy and heals him, the disciples ask why they couldn't do it. He tells them: "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you."
Some translations say "faith as small as a mustard seed." That's not in the Greek text. It does not say "as small as," it says, "as a mustard seed." So, is little faith smaller than mustard seed faith. Is the significance of mustard seed faith its size? Tomorrow, we'll look at the example of Abraham's faith, and see if we come up with a better perspective.
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