DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A TEACHING MOMENT

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – A TEACHING MOMENT

"Now in the morning, as He (Jesus) returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away." (Matthew 21:18-19)

What's with Jesus? Did he have a bad day, taking his anger out on an innocent fig tree? Did Jesus lose control of Himself? Did He have a temper tantrum, spewing out His frustration like an erupting volcano?

I don't think so. Jesus was always in complete control of Himself. If it was just a matter of being hungry, He could have turned the stones along the path into bread, as Satan enticed Him to do another time during the temptation when He was hungry (Luke 3:2-3). And remember that Jesus one time fed four thousand and another time five thousand in miraculous demonstration of His power.

No, I think Jesus saw this as a teaching moment with His disciples about faith and prayer. The disciples witnessed the fig tree wither away, and questioned Jesus, "Why?" Jesus' answer was concerning their faith. The bottom line was, "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (vs. 22). This is not a blanket promise that we will get everything we ask for. From other Scripture, we understand that there are conditions to this promise. Jesus did teach that if we ask anything in His name, He would do it (John 14:14). But asking in His Name indicates that we ask according to His desire.

The Apostle John understood this principle when he wrote, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (I John 5:14-15). The operative phrase is "according to His will." Confidence in our prayer is based on first, knowing that He hears us, and secondly, that it is according to His will. This is echoed by James who wrote, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3). We ask in faith and then let God be God.

This was a powerful teaching moment regarding faith. God uses situations in my own life to teach me. It may be a failure that teaches me of my own weakness. It may be through an illness that God teaches me to trust Him. God uses all kinds of ways to teach me if I am sensitive to listen to Him. Speak, my Lord.

Love, Dad