August 11, 2021: He Is All-Powerful

“Then [Jesus] said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ ... Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:14, 21, NIV).

Here is an odd story about Jesus. Hungry, Jesus sees a fig tree with leaves because it was out of season. Finding it has no fruit, He curses the tree, and it dies. Why does Jesus do that? Doesn’t it seem unreasonable? Why does Mark tell this story?

The gospel accounts are not collections of random stories of things Jesus did. Each gospel book is a revelation of who Jesus is. So either Mark wants us to think Jesus is an unreasonable tree killer, or something deeper is happening here.

I feel like in this passage Jesus is showing that He has the power to do all things. He can even tell a tree that it will have no more fruit, and just from those words alone, the tree will wither up and die.

It is just amazing to see what God can do. People either fear Him for it or are in fear of Him. Two completely different fears, but if you ask me, I love to fear Him—to be in awe of Him and respect Him.

So let us come closer to Him and build a stronger relationship every single day for the rest of our lives.

Dear God, please help us grow closer to You each day. Thank You for being all-powerful. Amen.

Tallen Forrey is an eighth-grader at the Harrisburg Adventist School in Pennsylvania.