Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
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 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. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
~ Psalm 1:1-4
There is a gorgeous picture of the believer in Scripture. We are described as trees well-planted. We are now new living beings established in such a way, that we will not be moved by the storms of life.
Surely it is not we which stand on our own! Rather we find our root and basis in the firm foundation of the righteousness of the G_d who has planted us in Himself.
This writer, even today, feels his own incredible INABILITY to do anything on his own. He may be a tree, but without G_d, he is a tree without roots and will fall. And even as he writes tonight, the list of his own failures to love well and to give himself as needed to those around him parades across the screen of accusation in his own mind.
But G_d!
When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
~ Isaiah 41:17-20
Can we see it here beloved?
Who waters us?
Who plants us?
Who grows us?
and why?
All of this has very little to do with our own sense of satisfaction… even satisfaction in a job well done… even satisfaction in being strong in Him. All of this is, rather, that G_d might get glory out of the trees that He plants. That the the world might see, and get a proper opinion of the One who did the watering and planting and growing in the first place.
My name means “set free.” But it also means “myrtle.” And it is a name that He gave me, so, it is helpful for me to put myself into the passage above as the subject. Yeah, G_d has answered my (our!) cries for help and opened Rivers of Life that we might be established in Him and grow. And this is wonderful.
But why did He do it?
Surely it is because He is good, and will not forsake His creation. But even more surely, it is because it is right that the whole world should know Him, and honor Him and enjoy Him forever.
It is so easy for me to believe that because i have been made strong, that i am somehow now strong on my own. Perhaps, some of you beloved face the same dilemma? Would that we might be fully disillusioned with the illusion that we can stand as trees without being rooted in Him. Would that we might gain only and all of our strength from Him!
And when we do fail, would that we might see that it is in Him that we Live and move and have our being. He is Everything good and beautiful in our Lives and will establish us even in our attempts to fail! He is the One who waters us, plants us, grows us, and carves us into His very own likeness.
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
~Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
