That Poor Fig Tree

Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it. (Matthew 21:22-23, NLT)

I had the privilege a few years ago to lead a group of women from our church in a Disciple Class called "Jesus in the Gospels." It was one of the most fun classes I've ever led and one I hope never to forget. We had such great discussions and discovered some amazing insights from these great women of faith. One of my most precious memories of that class took place when we studied this passage.

it follows a story of Jesus going to a fig tree to get something to eat and upon finding nothing, he curses it "never to bear fruit again." As the disciples walk by the fig tree the next day they are astonished as they find it withered and dead. That's when Jesus simply told them that this is what happens when you believe what you pray!

What makes this so memorable is that one of the ladies in the class, Alice Ann, never got over this action by Jesus. Now she did not question Jesus' power or even the message he taught through it, she just didn't understand what the poor fig tree had done to deserve such a curse. And it wasn't just one class session that we discussed this...I believe we talked about it almost every class until the end of the year!

It was a bit comical to be discussing something totally different when Alice Ann would say, out of the blue, " I just don't understand why that happened to that poor fig tree."

I appreciated her questions and her undying trust in Jesus Christ and I'm sure He got that question when Alice Ann got to heaven!

But I also wonder how often we miss the point of something because we can't get over the details?

And I wonder how often we pray without expecting anything in return?

That's really the point of the story anyway. Jesus was always provocative in some way, here he challenged the disciples to see how to pray with expectation; to speak it, believe it and it will be done!

Do you believe what you ask for will happen? Or are you more concerned about the details of how it will get done? This is where our doubts come from and what we need is to over look the details and just wait with anticipation on the results of our prayers.

This group of ladies sure didn't miss this part of the story. In fact, while we talked about "that poor fig tree" all year, we also saw amazing things happen because of our prayers as a class...

...because we believe what we asked and we trusted our requests in the hands of a faithful God.

Peace ><>
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