Lessons I Learned at Bethany: Faith

One morning, walking from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves, and found nothing but leaves.  Jesus said to the fig tree, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” 

Bethany (Al-Eizariya) in 1940

The next morning, his disciples saw that the tree was dried up from the roots. Peter said, “Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.” Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”  

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is just as powerful as He was 2000 years ago, and His word is just as true now as it was then. Believe that He is able! Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  The Bible says those who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” 

If you have problems in your life, if there are mountains before you that you see no way of climbing, if you have difficulties that you can see no way around and life just doesn’t make sense, start praying! The eyes of the Lord Jesus run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. The unjust judge didn’t even care about the widow, yet he gave her justice. God is just, good, merciful, and loving toward us. Surely we can believe that He will answer our pleas. 

 Have faith in God! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is just as powerful as He was 2000 years ago, and His word is just as true.