Later, after some time with God, He showed me a lesson using the flooded river as a visual lesson. From Psalms, Luke, and Galatians, the theme today seemed to be about getting alone with the Lord. In Psalm 1, I was struck by verse three:
“He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”
Psalms 1:3 NKJV
Verses one talks about how joyful it is to not hang out with sinners and mockers... Which can be a lonely place at times. Verse two talks about delighting in meditation on Scripture. I can tell you, it is hard to meditate on Scripture if you are distracted by the ones listed in verse one. It doesn't take anything as serious as sinners and mockers. I get distracted by my children or my cell phone. To truly meditate, To roll verses in my head and contemplate them, I often have to be alone.
As I read that verse, my mind went to the trees I had seen that morning. Normally they line the river bank, as in the before picture above. In the after picture, they are bent a little in the faster, flooded current, but they are still there. The verse talks about them bearing fruit in a drought, but the same principle that helps them bear fruit when there is no water keeps them on the riverbank when it swells and overflows from storms... The roots.
The roots have to be deep. They have to be deep enough to pull water from dry ground, deep enough to hold a tree upright when the current is beating at it to topple it.
In life, we face so many droughts and floods. We have times where we feel so dry, so thirsty for God, and struggle to taste His water. Then there are times where we are struggling to remain afloat as the storms of life batter us, crying out to God to hold us up. Having deep roots in Him may mean the difference between dying of thirst, being swept away by the tide of things against us, or standing strong.
Later in my study I was reading about Jesus in Luke. He had a tough couple of days. He was rejected in Nazareth, where He had grown up. He then went on to preach in Capernaum the next day. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, and then many others were healed and demons were cast out. He went away, to be alone with His Father for a bit. He needed the time connected to His Father.
He had to be rooted and grounded in His Father.
In Galatians, Paul discussed his conversion from persecutor of Jews to Christian. What struck me is that Paul didn't set up a ministry to the Gentiles right after Jesus came to the road to Damascus. Before Paul did anything, he went away to Arabia for a few years. He went off with God for awhile.
The lesson wasn't lost on me. We need to have time alone with God every day. We know this. We believe this. But life happens at times and all the best intentions don't lead to reality.
Who sees me when I spend time with the Lord? My children. Bible time is the first thing we do homeschool mornings. But I never thought about trying to build in my children the habit of seeking God for themselves. We dig into His Word together. They see me in my Word. But setting up Bible time ALWAYS has to be intentional, whether for me or for my children.
If it isn't intentional, it won't happen. Unintentional is what we tend to associate with accidents. You won't unintentionally grow deep roots to bear good fruit and stand strong in life's storms.
Get alone with God. Spend some time reading His Word. Spend some time talking to Him. Spend some time worshiping and praising him for Who He is. Do this daily and see how deep your roots will grow.
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