02.05. The Removal of Mountains
Serious obstacles often confront the servant of the Lord in his ministry for the bringing in of the kingdom. They seem as deep-rooted as the everlasting hills, and as imposing in their bulk. They block the way to accomplishment of desired ends. They shut out the vision ahead. They balk the disheartened worker with their grim assurance of immobility. They seem to laugh at -his discomfiture and to mock his prayers. And, as the months and the years pass, anti no change is seen in their contour, he comes often to accept them as a necessary evil, and to modify his plans accordingly. Such mountains of difficulty loom up on every foreign field; each home district has its range with impassable serrated peaks towering ahead; few pastorates lack at least a "little hill." They are too varied in their nature to particularize, but they are genuine and heart-breaking hindrances.
Concerning all such, the Master has assured His servants that they need not continue as obstacles to the progress of His work. The question of their removal is one of authority. The command of faith is the divine means of removing them out of the way: "Ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and it shall obey you." (Matthew 21:21) The question involved is not that o f an imposing faith, but that o f an all-sufficient Name. The worker has no power of himself to accomplish aught, but he is commissioned to wield the power of God. As he speaks to the mountain in the name of Christ, he puts his hand on the dynamic force that controls the universe; heavenly energy is released, and his behest is obeyed.
Authority is not prayer, though the worker who prays can alone exercise authority. Moses cried unto God at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:15 ff), beseeching Him to work on behalf of His people, only to receive the strong reproof: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." And, as he lifted his face in amazed protest, because the way ahead was blocked by the impassable waves, Jehovah spoke again: "Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it." As the impotent arm of the Lawgiver held over the waters the symbol of the authority of God, there was immediate response, "and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters (which seemed at first a barrier impossible to overcome) were a wall (of protection) to them on the right hand and on the left."
God delights to delegate His power to men, when He can find believing and obedient servants to accept and exercise it. So, when mountains rise in their way, the Lord commands His disciples to speak unto them and bid them depart into the sea. He gives no instruction to pray, although that is understood. There is essentially the same charge as was given to Moses: "You have asked Me to work; I have granted your request, but I choose to do the work through you; speak to the obstacle before you in my name, and it will obey." As we obediently speak to the mountain before us, there may seem to be no immediate response. But, as day by day, we maintain the attitude of authority, knowing that we are commissioned to use the name of our Lord, there will come a trembling, and a shaking, and a removing, and the mountain will slide from its base, and disappear into the sea of forgetfulness.
God is endeavoring to train workers for a future and a mighty ministry of co-operation with His Son. He therefore has here and now conferred on them the privilege of sharing the authority with which Christ was endowed as the Son of man. The burden of responsibility for its acceptance and its exercise lies with the individual believer.