Lev 26-27
Why are we humans never satisfied? It seems we never have enough; we always want more. Adam and Eve had everything they could possibly need or want in the Garden of Eden, with a life of rich blessing in daily communion with God to boot, but they traded it all for ‘something more.’ God’s chosen people were promised a beautiful, trouble free life of blessing if they would obey His commands (I suppose this is where the idea that salvation equates to a long, healthy, wealthy life of blessing comes from), but all that was promised them was not enough to keep them from pursuing their own thing. I read the first 13 verses of chapter 26 and I long for that. But longing is not enough for any of us. Each one of us has, is, or will stray from what is right. I don’t know why, but God’s word makes our nature very clear.
My conclusion? We need God. We need His blessing, yes, but we can’t even get that without His grace and mercy. He gives it to us, and we toss it aside. Thank God He was/is willing to go to such great lengths for such a stubborn, prideful, hard-hearted creation!! Of course, my dad would say that God made us this way, and maybe that’s true. But I am grateful all the same.
Mark 11:19-33
I struggle to understand the fig tree. It did nothing wrong. Jesus cursed it because it had no fruit when He went looking for it, but it was not the season for it to have fruit, so why would Jesus have expected to find any? Did Jesus just curse the tree because He was hangry? Doesn’t seem likely. So perhaps, then, He did it as an object lesson for His disciples – to show them that whatever they asked could be done. Which, again, causes me to question what it takes to truly believe without doubt, because none of us seems able to do that. And then He brings up forgiveness, like it’s the same subject. He curses a fig tree for not having out-of-season fruit on it when He was hungry to say that we should forgive when we pray? I suppose an unforgiving heart stands in the way of receiving forgiveness from God, and I can see that God’s forgiveness is the greatest thing we can ask for and receive, but I’m just not quite making the connection with this poor fig tree and what to expect with prayer.