234. One More Lesson from the Withered Tree

Matthew 21:20-22, Mark 11:20-26

Key Verse: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Matthew 21:22

Wow! That sounds good. All I have to do is believe and God will give me whatever I want? I can throw mountains around and curse stuff that I don’t like and maybe get a million dollars and…well; that’s what it sounds like Jesus is saying here. Right?  Well, we might think that’d be nice for us, but let’s take a closer look.

We're back at the olive tree again and the first time we visited this tree we talked about how God is sovereign and has the right to do what he wants with his creation. Now Jesus is using this same tree to teach another lesson about faith and prayer.

We call it the “name it, claim it,” gospel today. People who follow this teaching find it easy to be able to tell who really has faith and who doesn’t. If you aren’t getting what you pray for, or if you’re still suffering in some way, it’s easy to tell that it’s your fault, not God’s. You either have unconfessed sin in your life or you just don’t have enough faith. Oh, how we hurt other people with these accusations that are often not true.

You see, prayer is like a diamond with many facets. Jesus has been teaching His disciples about the many facets of prayer for the last three years as they have lived, journeyed and ministered together. I like to think that this conversation took place the next morning, after a night’s rest at Bethany. Whether the tree withered instantly, as in Matthew, or overnight, as in Mark, is not important. Today, with the help of the withered fig tree, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach His disciples that faith in God is amazing and that faith in God makes the amazing possible.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) It’s not enough to simply ask Him for things. When you ask, do you truly believe that you are talking to God? And, in your asking, are you thinking only about yourself? Jesus also taught on prayer, “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 day 102) David says it another way in Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

In other words, faith based prayer is really about your relationship with God. Faith is not a power that we have. It is a trust in the power of God to do what brings glory to him. And of all the answered prayers in the bible, of all the miracles that Jesus did, none were for selfish reasons, but were allowed by God or designed by God to bring glory to himself. How often do we think about whether or not the request we are making will bring glory to God beyond a personal thank you?

Think about it, would it really be good for you, or for anyone for that matter to get whatever they wanted just for asking? Do you always know what is best for you? Can you see the entire picture? If, however, you have faith in God, as a child has faith in a parent, then you know that you can trust His judgment to give you what is best. Based on that relationship, if it is best for you to be able to throw a mountain into the sea, or kill a tree, as you ask, based on your loving, trusting relationship with the Father, you can have faith that it will happen.

Mark, however, adds a further instruction. “And when you stand praying if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25) Again, prayer and forgiveness are coupled together. Isn’t it interesting that our own unwillingness to forgive may be the roadblock to answered prayer. Once again, it’s about relationship. Remember the Greatest commandment? First it focused on Loving God the most and then it focused on loving our neighbor.  

Again, first Jesus calls us to be in right relationship with Him and then, we need to be in right relationship with our fellow man. This is another key to having our own prayers answered. Probably praying to have someone else hurt will never be in line with God’s heart and it certainly demonstrates not being in right relationship with your neighbor. But when we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, (Matthew 5:44) we do well. We are seeking right relationship with both God and Man and desire to know Him and do His Will above all. If we truly love Him then we can trust that He will do what is best for us. Certainly, having the tree wither up and die wasn’t the best thing for the tree, but the tree became a part of God’s plan to bring glory to Himself. When we can surrender our own lives like that, by faith, we will know that all will be well.

Hymn: “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High