Devotions with Pastor Blake Owings

Faith to Move Mountains

Manjhi is very well known in India as “The Mountain Man.” He lived in a settlement in the Gehlaur Hills and worked as a miner. Tragically, his wife had an accident and fell off a cliff while trying to bring food and water to Manjhi while he was at work. Due to the treacherous terrain the nearest clinic was 40 miles away, and he was unable to save his wife. Manjhi vowed that he would never let this happen to anyone again. He picked up his hammer and chisel and spent the next 22 years carving a path through the mountain. In 1982 he finished the 30 ft wide, 25 ft high, and 360 ft long path through the mountain. It cut the walking distance to the next settlement from 35 miles to 10 miles. Manjhi’s determination possibly saved the lives of countless people.
 
Hearing this story gave new meaning to Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
 
Manjhi had faith. I don’t know if he was a follower of Christ or not, but he had faith that he could carve a safer path for the people in his village. In fact he had so much faith that he picked up and used the smallest possible tools you could use for a job like that because it is what he had.
 
Faith requires us to act. It requires us to act on the things we know to be true even though it may seem difficult or somewhat impossible. How do we know this? We know because God has proven himself time and time again. What do you need to have the faith to do today? What is the impossible task that God is calling you to do? What are the tools and resources around you, even things as small as mustard seeds, that you can pick up and use to do amazing things?     

​​Pastor Blake