"but who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on His law day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-whatever they do prosper." Psalm 1:2-3I remember a time in my life when my health was in question. I was experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness. Along with those symptoms, I was experiencing frequent migraine headaches. This was a very difficult time for me for I was questioning, "Why me, God?". Life was difficult for me in the struggle of getting through each and every day. Then as I was in God's Word one day, I realized what He was trying to tell me through this experience. God led me to Psalm 1:2-3 and the message from this passage became very clear to me. He showed me a vision of a tree and how it was open to all the elements. A tree can experience wind, rain, fire and many other disasters which would totally wreck the top part of the tree. But what about the roots? With the roots being underground, it is protected from those severe elements. Where were my roots? Were my roots solid under the ground and receiving nourishment from the water or were they like this picture, not connected and lacking nourishment? God clearly showed me that no matter what happened to me above the ground, as long as my roots were connected to the living water, which was God's living Word, then I would be alright in my spirit. You see, the only thing that really matters to me is my relationship with the Father! If I am in His Word daily and have a relationship with Him, then the storms of life will not really matter. Even if the storms of life make a mess of my tree which is above ground, what really keeps me alive is the living water under the ground. I once heard the phrase, "let not the circumstances of this life dictate the circumstances of your heart". Now this phrase had meaning to me and what was happening to me physically did not matter to me as much as my spiritual health. Eventually my health improved but my spiritual health has remained steady.
Question: Are your roots firmly planted and receiving nourishment from the living water? Are you experiencing any physical challenges in your life right now? How can you dig deeper this day and not allow the circumstances of your life dictate the circumstances of your heart? What can you do today to find safety and security in God's Word?
2 comments:
Pam-
This was a wonderful passage and picture of the deep roots of the tree. There is such truth to this illustration- last year when the tornado hit, there was so much physical damage- it smelled like fresh pines for several weeks- as the tops of several pine trees had been cut right off- rooftops severed from the main house- people lost lives - homes damaged- but spiritually it brought everyone closer together. For we know in the end- what matters is our faith to get us thru the storms in life- Thankyou as the 1 year anniversay comes March 1st 2008- I will remind others to keep our roots in the living word.
Debbie - there are many storms of life that are around us on a daily basis. Some of the storms are small like those little arguments and disagreements we may have with spouses, family, co-workers. There are those big storms that just seem to knock the wind out of us. Those are the ones that are so catastrophic that we cannot even think. Just like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I remember seeing a picture of a man on his roof and the water was right up to the roof line and he had nowhere to go, except to look up! God may take us to those places where he has to lay us flat on the ground so that the only place we can look is up!
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