| Leviticus 27:14-Numbers 1:54; Mark 11:1-26; Psalm 46:1-11; Proverbs 10:23
“The next day when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry. After seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, He went to find out if there was anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again!’ And His disciples heard it.” (Mark 11:12-14)
“Early in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Then Peter remembered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed is withered.’ Jesus replied to them, ‘Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all things you pray and ask for – believe that you have received them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrong-doing. But if you don’t forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrong-doing.'” (Mark 11:20-26)
Although it was a little early in the season for figs, this particular type of tree would usually produce “early figs” even before it began sprouting leaves. So, it wasn’t unreasonable for Jesus to look for fruit and then curse it as barren when He didn’t find any. He used this barren fig tree as an object lesson for His disciples. When they came by the next day they noticed the fig tree had withered from the roots up. This showed the disciples that this was nothing less than an act of God proving Jesus’ teaching concerning faith and prayer.
Jesus used an exaggerated example (commonly used at that time) to reveal a spiritual truth. He wasn’t so much meaning that a mountain would jump into the sea as He was that we must depend on God’s ability to hear and answer our most difficult prayers. Prayer isn’t a blank check that we take to God, but rather a total trust of His unlimited power. We can count on God to see us through our hardest hours in life through our communication of prayer, not abuse it by expecting the production of some unrealistic, unneeded froo-froo request.
He also gave us a condition of answered prayer. He said that we must walk in an attitude of forgiveness. How many of us have unanswered prayer and cannot figure out why the heavens are brass to us. We are actually shutting the door on ourselves because of our anger or bitterness toward someone. We all fall short and it is important that we forgive and let people go. In the eyes of God we are just as guilty in some way. Our expectation is that He will forgive us. We need to extend the same courtesy.
PRAYER:
Lord, I ask You to forgive me and to give me the heart to truly forgive others. I want to be free from anger and judgment. I ask that my prayers be powerful and according to Your will. Teach me how to seek You, how to petition You and what is truly important. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen. |
