Stop Trying to Fix Your Problems

Jason Crabb learned that God could move a mountain with a mustard seed of faith

I don’t understand how God’s grace works; I just know it does and that faith is involved. Faith is the kind of knowingthat is central to how the kingdom of God operates. We don’t have to understand how things will change for the better. We aren’t called to figure out how God will meet our need. We don’t have to stay up nights imagining which scenario will make an uptick out of a downturn. All we have to do is believe that “with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

I won’t kid you, there are moments when I lose sight of this truth. Sometimes I forget to factor His grace into whatever situation I’m facing. When I buy into my insecurities, my doubt looks bigger than my faith. Left unchecked, doubt can gain the upper hand in my mind. It might be a momentary tussle, or it might drag on for weeks.

This happened not long ago after my family quit touring together. I got to a place where I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. Stepping into a solo ministry meant taking on a lot of additional responsibility and expense.

Transitions, even those that lead to better things, can be treacherous. The enemy knows that if you lose sight of God’s grace, worry will eat your lunch! That’s exactly what happened to me. The joy of my new path began to evaporate in the face of what I saw as insurmountable obstacles to the mission.

I still had God’s confirming word tucked in my heart, I still desired to sing gospel music and preach God’s Word, but my words became negative. Instead of seeing the amazing road ahead, I focused on all the rocks in my path. Thank God I have a wife who loves me enough to read me the riot act. 

Shellye said one night: “Honey, I’m sick of hearing you whine, and I’m tired of watching you mope around. You need to look at what God has already done.” She was right. She brought faith back to the forefront so God’s grace could operate in my life. I was trying to carry God’s part of the ministry—all the things I couldn’t make happen through my own efforts. As a result, I was exhausted and discouraged and unable to do my rightful part.

We aren’t called to pump up our faith until it’s big enough to take us through the fire. We just have to use the faith we have, and He will make something big of it. Jesus said it this way: “I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20).

The measure of faith is not how much you have but what you do with it. Faith the size of the tiniest seed is enough. That is evident in Jesus’ choice of words: “You can say to this mountain, ‘Move … ,?’ and it will move” (emphasis added). Move a mountain? Heck, my troubles weren’t that big! When God called me to strike out on my own, He didn’t ask me to relocate Mount Hood. Even if He had, my prospects for success wouldn’t have been tied to how I felt or how clear my path was at the time.

The idea of grace is that our success is not based in performance. It’s based on His ability to accomplish what He has ordained. All we need to do is plant our tiny seeds of faith and keep on walking, believing that God is God. He will see us through whatever it is—even the fire itself—one day at a time.

Jason Crabb is the author of Trusting God to Get You Through (Charisma House). He is best known as the lead vocalist in the Southern gospel group, the Crabb Family.