A Lesson In The Withered Fig Tree

Matthew 21:18-22 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” and the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what been done to this fig tree, but even if you say to the mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

As we at Grace continue to move forward in trying to acquire the Ballard Building I am constantly reminded of how big (even humongous) a role faith and prayer play in our efforts. We seem to be pushing against a rope trying to achieve that goal with stiff resistance from others. I see this passage and find the encouragement to continue forward.
How many times in your life have you faced a difficult situation? By difficult I mean the odds seemed to be insurmountable. We see stories of personal tragedy in the news, in books, and in movies. But when you personally face these situations it takes on a whole new meaning. It becomes personalized and hits home. Being discouraged is a natural feeling. Finding yourself in despair and buried in depression is an all-too-easy outcome to the situation. But then we are confronted by our faith. That darn condition we have been given by the Holy Spirit. It’s the gift from our baptism that keeps on giving. And we are compelled to blow out the candles on the cake of our pity party. We are reminded by Christ in the Matthew 21 passage above that we have faith on our side. We can literally move mountains by faith. To not have faith in all things being possible puts God in a box. We minimize the infinite in our thoughts and actions. This is all because of the doubt that relentlessly creeps into our mind. It’s the wedge of Satan which tries to split us off from the Lord. What are we to do? For starters, we can relentlessly pray. We can pray for God to gives us the peace that surpasses all understanding. We can pray for Him to calm our lives, our hearts, and our minds. We can pray for the wisdom to find the path God has set out for us to follow. We can pray for the wisdom to discern the lesson He has placed our there for us to embrace. We can pray for the strength to continue even when our own strength is exhausted. We can do all this because we have faith. And that faith, like the little seed that grows into a mustard tree, is enough because it comes from God. And friends, in God all things are possible so do not think of yourself as a withered fig tree. For we have been given the faith in our hearts to move mountains. Let’s resolve to stomp out doubt and unleash our faith every day in our lives. To God be the glory in all that we do.

PRAYER: Lord, in You alone do we place our trust today and every day. Amen.