I have recently read about the olive tree that the Lord passed by. I couldn’t pass it by without searching my own heart. I am writing what the Lord laid on my heart, it might be helpful to one or the other.
Mark 11: 13
“After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.“
The time
Season?! It was not the right season! What do I do with my time? Is it subject to the Heavenly Father? Can He anytime ask me for anything, and I will gladly do it, no matter if it is the right season for it or not?
I so easily create my own habits and stick to them. I keep them even stricter than the Lord’s commandments and with greater zeal than I keep the promises given to the Lord.
There is a time when I wake up, there is a time when I go to sleep, time when I pray, time when I read the Word, time when I eat, time when I receive visitors, time when I work. There is a time when I complain, there is a time when I don’t want to see anyone, there is a time when I can help someone, there is ME time, there is a time for all these. This is not necessarily always bad. But, can God, the Father, dispose of my time? Can He feel free to change anything in the way I have scheduled my time, the way I would like it to be, the way I dream to spend it?
The circumstances
Let us turn to our perfect example, which is the Lord Jesus, and learn from Him.
Before we read Matthew 14:13, it is maybe good to look at the context of this event. In the preceding verses it is described the way John the Baptist, the man who went before the Lord, to prepare the way for the Lord, is beheaded. His head is the reward of a dance. In verse 12 it says:
“Then they went and told Jesus. “
It continues in the first part of verse 13:
“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.“
Upon hearing this news, the Lord would have wanted some time aside, in the wilderness, where he could be alone, maybe He wanted to weep, maybe weep for John. But, we read further:
“Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.“
Crowds! Are you only pursuing your own interests? Have you not heard that John has died? Have you not heard that John was very important to the Lord Jesus? Haven’t you realized He might need some time alone?
It seems that the Heavenly Father desired to set Jesus as our example, so that no one would say that he doesn‘t know how to get through one situation or another.
Even though it is obvious that the Lord would have longed to go aside alone, the Heavenly Father considered that this was not the right time for it, as we read in verse 14:
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,” and in verse 21, the size of the crowd is described: “five thousand men, besides women and children.”
Forget about myself
Don’t I find myself in this same situation? When I may have been trying to be alone, I may have been looking for a time for myself, maybe to weep in my trouble, but all of a sudden there is a phone call. I hardly finish talking and a new person comes by the door, and then another one. When I finally think that NOW I have time for myself, one child starts to cry, the other has broken his head, the little one needs to be changed… What did I do then?
Revolt! Dissatisfaction?! I want my time to mourn, I want my time, the way I want it!
Let’s look at the Lord Jesus. When he saw the crowd, in verse 14 it reads:
“He took pity on them and healed the sick”
How wonderful! The Lord forgets Himself, His time, forgets that He would have wanted a time for Himself, a time in which He could be alone, He is completely forgetting Himself. Here’s how He begins to care for the needs of these people. He begins to heal their sicknesses and, honestly, I don’t think there were only a few sick people, yet He healed them, healed the sick, all the sick!
How am I when I suffer?
How am I when I suffer? When I want time for my suffering, but it is taken away from me? The Heavenly Father, on the contrary, sends me people who need help, many people who need my help in one way or another. What am I doing then? Am I crying after my time that I can’t use the time the way I planned? I can’t wait for all those who need help to leave, to go to others as well, not all to me. Ah! These children also have a father to take care of them, not just me! I close the door so no one comes in anymore.
How different is the thinking of the Lord from my thinking. When these people came in the time He wanted to be alone, He not only changed His plans for them, but took care of all their needs. We read further that he also gave them food, he did everything he could for them.
The Lord was full of fruits!
Going back to the verse I started with, I ask myself the question.
When the Lord Jesus draws near to me, will he find fruit? Or, he will find only leaves and the weak, contemptuous justification: “it was not the season for figs!”
With joy,
Oana
