I saw Redwood trees for the first time this summer, in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in northern California. They were amazingly tall, but it was their root system that really impressed me. Their trees were only about six or eight feet below the ground, because the water table was so close to the surface. They stretched out their roots parallel to the ground, and when they encountered another tree, they entwined their roots together. This gave the top-heavy trees added stability. They also leaned against each others' trunks. A huge tree trunk might actually be half a dozen trees that grew together. The arboreal giants luxuriated in the ample water supply, able to expend their energy to stretch ever taller.
Flash to another tree mentioned in Psalm 1.
the garden of life, that’s the circumstances that hit you from behind—illness, job loss, divorce, accidents. You don’t expect them, you probably don’t cause them, they just come.
Lessons
from two trees
a.
Redwood
forest—Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in northern California. Tall trees,
easy water supply close to surface, grow tall because they can put their energy
into growing up, not down, entwine themselves around other tree roots for
support, lean on other tree trunks. BUT if a severe storm or flooding comes,
they are toppled.
b.
The
desert tree in Psalm 1. Scrawny tree planted by a stream. It digs its roots
deep into the ground, so that when that little stream dries up in a bad
drought, it still can reach the water from the underground spring that feeds
the stream. It has no buddies to lean on; it doesn’t look very pretty; but it
can survive the drought.
c.
You
aren’t a tree. You’ve probably been in both of those situations. I’m not saying
you should seek out one or the other. Just learn how to make the most of
whatever circumstances you find yourself in.
Don’t get lazy when things are going
well. Don’t let your Christian life depend on how much fellowship you’re
getting. By all means, take advantage of the spiritual nourishment. But also
dig your roots deeper than you have to—take on a new ministry, go on a mission
trip, get out of your comfort zone.
When things are dry, or disastrous—do
what the desert tree did. Dig deep and find that underground spring, which is
the Holy Spirit working in your life. God will not let you down. He promised.
2.
The
deer, rabbits and slugs—in our life they are people!
In
my garden, I find these pests are harder to deal with, because I like animals.
I don’t want to hurt them. How much more should we feel that way about people
for whom Jesus died.
When we take things into our own hands
with people, we have to be prepared to deal with the consequences. My
husband—the slugs.
So we should be concerned about taking
our own vengeance. You don’t want to become God’s instrument of His vengeance.
These are people made in God’s image.
How to deal with them: Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
You can show love to an atheist or a Muslim or a pharisee or a hedonist, and he
probably won’t find it offensive.
3.
Weeds:
the problems inside me—sin. One of my biggest weed problems is with thistles. I
can start digging a thistle beside a plant, and I keep digging and pulling, and
I find the root of that weed is six feet from where I started! If you want to
get at the sin you’ve got to get down to the root, not just shave off the top
and try to make things look pretty.
The
problem with our weeds is that the root is at the center of our heart, and it
has infected our entire being. We can clean ourselves up, get rid of every bad
habit we see in ourselves, and after all that we are still sinners. But John
3:16 is the gospel in one verse—that God sent His Son Jesus to die for the
whole world, so that whoever believed in Him would be forgiven of their sins
and have eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul said this is the most
important message he had. “For I passed this on to you as of first importance,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that
He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Christ saved us
from those weeds in our lives, our sins. It doesn’t mean we will have a
problem-free life, or that we will never sin again, but God is able to forgive
us all sins, and help us overcome any temptation we face in the future.
Remember
how the verse in Ecclesiastes said that God has put eternity in our hearts—we
may not understand everything, but we can understand God is at work in our
lives. I repeat, Romans 5:6 “At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”
Even Christ’s death, and even your own salvation, comes at just the right time.
Because of this right timing, we sinners have been made beautiful in the eyes
of God.
