Mountain-Moving Faith

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus says:

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

This verse has been on my mind a lot recently. What does it mean? What is Jesus trying to say to us?

I have read this verse quoted in books as to mean whatever we want can and will happen for us, if we just have enough faith. Just have more faith, and what you desire will come true. And that's how I've always thought of this verse as well.

Recently, my interpretation of it this way has been troubling me, and I can't get the verse out of my mind (which is a sure sign, in my book, that God's trying to get my attention about it!).

Does God really desire us to have everything we want; in this world, here and now? If we had everything we want, we would be like spoilt children, and not learn anything. I believe that God designed the world to be perfect and free of suffering, but that it is no longer like that, and that He uses the suffering we do experience to reveal His nature to us. The rest of the Bible doesn't seem to say that God is going to always miraculously make things materially better for us - but it does say that things can always be spiritually better; and that's what counts, after all.

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul doesn't tell us to pray for our situation to change, but instead to learn to be content in the situation:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 

Jesus himself was someone who suffered a great deal. That burden was not taken away from him. And neither does Jesus seem to want it to be, although even he has his moments of doubt.

Look what happens when Jesus wants his circumstances to be changed (Luke 22:41-43):

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Oh, that this would be my faith! I find Jesus's vulnerability so heart-breaking in this passage. He faces death; he prays for it to be taken away from him; and yet, even in this moment, he prays 'Your will not mine'.

And when Jesus prays for circumstances to be changed, instead of this happening (and doesn't Jesus have much greater faith than a mustard-seed?), 'an angel appears and strengthens him'. The mission is not changed, but Jesus is able to take it on.

This is exactly what the Lord has been speaking to me about recently, through Matthew 17:20. Every time that verse comes to mind, the niggling thought accompanies it: what if the mountain-moving isn't a change of mission (which will happen exactly as God plans it, no matter what I pray), but a change of heart? Isn't that more of a mountain for God to move - to strengthen us to be content in the circumstances facing us?

This verse has really been strengthening my faith lately. I know that, even if this PGD doesn't work out as I'd like, and - like Jesus - I pray for someone else's lot instead, I can ask God to change my heart. Nothing is impossible for Him, and nothing is unbearable with Him.