The Tree That Had Free Will

And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. Mark 11:14

And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Mark 11:20

This is a very strange story. Mark tells us it was not the time of figs, but Jesus was hungry and found none. Can we fault the tree? Yet Jesus cursed it and it died. If we were to apply this to human beings, many would say that those who used their free will to resist the call of God, deserve to die. It is up to us to make the right decision.

Now it is obvious that a plant has no will of its own. Could this be why we have the fig tree as our example? And what if our so called free will is not the determining factor in our lack of salvation? What if, as the Bible says, it is God's will that is supreme? Such a shocking statement! Our will does not determine our destination, but God's will does.

I was not asked if I wished to be born, yet I was. I wasn't even consulted. There is so much in the Bible about birth. In order to be saved we must be born again. We all know that. This is a terrible blow to the ego. Am I not better than those who did not choose God? What a monstrous statement. God waiting for me to use my free will to choose Him or not.

We resist the very idea: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? (Romans 9:19)

The whole of Romans chapter nine argues the point--God is in charge, not us. Some hate this doctrine. It takes self out of the equation. Poor little fig tree. It didn't have a chance. But then God made it in the first place.