By THE SPIRIT it was written in Genesis chapter 3:
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
The fig leaves were sought to hide the Truth of the matter. Adam and Eve chose to disregard FATHER’S warning and the first act after the fall was to cover up the reality of their nakedness. They were now living their lives based on creating a perception rather than Truth. Fast forward to the time of Jesus. By THE SPIRIT Mark wrote in chapter 11:
12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.
Jesus approached the fig tree in search of fruitfulness and only found leaves. This story is both a parable and a miracle so we must not disregard either. Jesus expected fruit to be present on the fig tree but it was only producing leaves which provided the perception and expectation of fruitfulness. He found no fruit. How many of us are kidding ourselves by living only by perception and producing no fruit? Are we making a difference in other people’s lives or are we having no effect? Let us proceed to being fruitful in our purpose, not just taking up resources as the fruitless fig tree.
The fig tree was also involved in Jesus conveying a Truth about faith. The disciples observed a miracle when Jesus spoke to the fig tree:
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
Let us embrace both lessons found in this passage about the fig tree: we need to be fruitful and we need to exercise our faith and doubt not. How can we be fruitful if we lack faith? How can we know if we are called to an area of interest if we find no fruit being produced in that area? It is critical that we spend time with FATHER so that we deploy our resources toward being fruitful rather than simply biding time and supporting a perception. The fig tree is meant to produce fruit and if it doesn’t within a reasonable period of time, it is to be plucked up and placed in the fire so that other trees can be planted and produced fruit from that ground.
We are to be fruitful in whatever and wherever we are placed. Let us not settle for “leaves” only but expect “fruit” to come forth. We must be patient yet when the fullness of time has arrived, we must be brutally honest in our observation and review. If an area of interest is not bearing fruit, did we exercise our faith or did we simply accept a path we were never meant to pursue? FATHER is ready and willing to correct the situation as we pursue time with HIM. Paul (who was Saul) had taken the wrong path yet FATHER used him mightily. Let his example be our encouragement. Let each of us assess what we are in search of… let it be fruitfulness.