When we visited Steveston last week, we spotted this deeply rooted tree along the shore of Scotch Pond. At high tide, the roots are completely underwater. Despite the hardship, the tree seems to be thriving.
The Bible uses the imagery of being well rooted many times for good reason. Being deeply rooted gives reliance and protection. All of us are rooted in something.
Every person has faith in something or someone that carries them through life. It might be religion, or money, or their looks, family name or a myriad of other things that you might think of. The problem is that at some point all of those things will fail you. Only rooting yourself in Christ will hold.
The prophet Jeremiah reminds us of the blessings of being rooted in the Lord.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV
We see a similar theme in the Psalms
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law[b] of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
Our roots grow deeper when our faith is tested, and Jesus carries us through. A faith that has never been tested likely has very shallow roots. God gives us times of struggle to help us grow. He lets the parts of us we don’t like to admit are still there surface so we can deal with them. He puts tough people and situations in our way to teach us and send our roots deeper than ever.
Christ never promised us an easy, trouble-free life. He gives us circumstances and situations to help us grow and become more like Him.
It isn’t all hardship, but we can rejoice in good times or bad, high tide or low, knowing that having our roots in Jesus will hold us, and we are blessed.
May your roots run deep.
Kevin
SUMMARY
We spotted this tree along the shore of Scotch Pond in Steveston. At high tide, its roots disappear completely, and yet it keeps thriving.
TAKEAWAY
We might root our lives in money, looks, family name, or a dozen other things, but every one of those will eventually let us down.
Jeremiah and Psalm 1 both picture the faithful as a tree planted by water, its leaves green even in drought.
Our roots grow deepest not in the easy seasons but in the hard ones, because that’s when Christ proves He’ll hold.