Hanging By a “Mustard Seed”

Life is not an easy experience. Often we hear someone say, “I’m hanging by a thread” or “I’m making it by the skin of my teeth.” We all have times when life is treacherous and trouble dogs us day after day. If one thing goes wrong, usually two or three things follow in a row. One man testified that as he started the day he read a little caption that said, “Cheer up, things could be worse.” So, he cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse. The Bible said, (Job speaking) “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” (Job 5:7; 14:1-2)

This is not our final home and we naturally groan and travail for our new house reserved in heaven. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (II Corinthians 5:1-4)

Our God has the answer for His saints. The mustard seed of faith is God’s salvation in the time of trial. The Scripture uses this term because the mustard seed is the smallest of herbs but produces victory in its action. Like all seeds, it needs time for germination but when allowed to produce its life does so triumphantly. It’s small because in times of trouble all we need is that shadow of faith that simply rests and waits. We tend to think that faith must barrel out of us like a storm but that is not how we often feel when trouble comes. Our God invites us to “hang by a mustard seed.”

Let’s listen to His description of the mustard seed of faith. “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (St. Matthew 17:19-21) The world conditions us to expect big things only when we put out big efforts and that may well be true in the natural realm. The supernatural world operates on an utterly different plane. We are taught in the Bible, “to stand still and see the salvation of God,” “to enter into His rest,” and to “wait patiently upon the Lord.” He said, “Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

These great truths have been treated so superfluous that it means little to the church. To “wait before Him” without the genuine “delight in him” that a rich relationship produces is empty talk. What we need today is to go back to those early morning hours of dwelling in His glorious presence until “He comes like rain upon the mown grass.” (Deuteronomy 32:2) He wants you to yield up your spirit to Him and allow His Spirit to bear witness with your spirit until “sonship” produces the “Abba Father” or “My Father” relationship. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17)

When the enemy comes in like a flood, let that “mustard seed” of faith sustain you. No one is so spiritual that our faith is not tried. In fact, it is the trial of our faith that produces maturity and perfection. Learn to let simple faith be your security and wait on the Lord. Be disciplined in your emotions and resist being anxious about the outcome. The “mustard seed” of faith is little and almost imperceptible but produces a glorious end.

Joseph Chambers