Piles of Manure

“‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down.’ ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.’” Luke 13:6-9

I read this story for the first time a year ago and for some reason it amused me. I’m not sure why but I thought about it for the following month. Time went on, Bible Studies were completed, and I forgot about this story until this morning. With Jesus, the ultimate storyteller, no story gets told without being steeped in wisdom and hope. In this story, we find ourselves eavesdropping on the landowner and the gardener. The owner is tired of searching for fruit on a stubborn and sterile fig tree. He wants it removed because he sees no value in it taking up space on his property. With great patience and compassion, the vine dresser sees beautiful possibilities and probabilities if the landowner will only give him access to the tree. He explains that if the landowner will allow him to dig around the base and mix in manure, fruit just may appear at the harvest. I LOVE this story and it’s been the story of many times in my life.

There have been seasons where my circumstances stunk to high heavens! I felt like a dump truck backed up with its loud beeping, and tilting the bucket vertically covered me up. However, the fruit that was harvested from these difficult seasons have produced the most remarkable fruit shared with the Father. I’ll bet some of you are feeling exhausted, dumped on and fruitless this morning. If so, our story can give us hope and clarity for what is up ahead when we allow God to dig around in our heart. Just like the vine dresser, God sees the potential of what we can produce when abiding in Him. He knows the amount of time required to promote spiritual fruit, and He doesn’t mind tearing up our landscaping to make it happen. But he doesn’t leave it in disarray but does use the stench of our challenges to create a future harvest.

Even when others seem to dump on us and wound us, we can thank them for fertilizing our tree! We can trust God will use every bit of hurt to develop each of us into the remarkable people He created us to be. We certainly don’t have to like the manure, but believe that God can use it for profit. ‘Nobody told me a productive life would involve so much manure...The gardener can take what is nothing more than a pile of putrid manure, apply it to the base of our tree, and do us an enormous favor.’ Chasing Vines, Beth Moore, p 224. All He asks is that we give Him both access and time and allow Him to tend to the land.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9