Finding God under the Fig Tree – EGP Blog post from August 26, 2018

“Jesus saw Nathaniel when NO ONE ELSE saw Nathaniel. … Here’s a man, under a fig tree, trying to CONNECT to God. But if you were trying to connect to God, they would expect you to be in the TEMPLE. … It was the temple that God INSTRUCTED them to build, and in the middle of that temple was SUPPOSED to be this place called The Holy of Holies, where God and humanity CONNECTED together. But somehow Nathaniel knew that that temple was a RELIC of a reality, but not THE reality. Somehow he knew that even though the temple was a symbol of the POSSIBLE relationship between God and humanity, he somehow knew … that’s NOT where he would find God. …

He wasn’t under that fig tree to IMPRESS anyone else. He wasn’t trying to be RELIGIOUS. He wasn’t trying to be more NOBLE. He wasn’t trying to be more HONORABLE. He wasn’t trying to establish a REPUTATION or build his FAME. He was under that fig tree because he was on a DESPERATE SEARCH for God. … And Jesus says, ‘I SAW you while you were still under the fig tree, … BEFORE Philip called you.’ …

I want you to hear the difference between Nathaniel’s statement and Philip’s statement [after meeting Jesus]. … See, Philip is saying, ‘I think I found the one that THEY WROTE about.’ But Nathaniel’s saying something very different. He goes, ‘You are the Son of GOD! You are the KING of Israel! You’re not the one that I READ about, you’re not the one that they’re TALKING about, you’re the one I’ve been SEARCHING FOR!’ It’s not enough to HEAR about Jesus. It’s not enough to HEAR about God. It’s not enough just to know someone who SAYS they know God. You can’t afford to have a faith that is simply DISPLACED in someone else’s experience. You have to find YOUR OWN ‘fig tree’ and SEARCH for God and FIND HIM for yourself. …

Jesus SEES you. He KNOWS who you are. He knows your PAIN. He knows your STRUGGLES. He knows your FEARS and your DOUBTS. He knows EVERYTHING you are and EVERYTHING you’ve been through. He’s never been INDIFFERENT to you. He’s always CARED about you. EVERY moment in your life where you’ve shed a TEAR, or felt PAIN, or WOUNDING, or BETRAYAL. He’s been THERE, and He’s SEEN you, and He KNOWS you. He just needs YOU to see HIM, because He already sees you.”