Reflections from August 14, 2010

From my Life Journal on 8/14/10:

Scripture--Jeremiah 17:7-8--"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Observation--A man who walks with the Lord and is rooted in His words will not grow tired or fearful or anxious when tough times come.

Application--I need to continue to spread my roots deeper into Christ--trust His word, obey His word, study His word--then when tough, fearful, stressful times come I will continue to produce spiritual fruit in my life.

Prayer--Give me perseverance to continue digging into your word. Thank you for giving me nourishment in even the toughest times of life. Let my fruit be evident and helpful to others.

Four years later the imagery of being rooted in Christ still captures my attention. Rooted, growing, branching, producing fruit...a picture of a growing, healthy tree encapsulates for me what a growing Christ-follower ought to look like.

The root system is vital. Strong roots are essential for nourishment. Really the key to a good root system built in Jesus is trust. Trusting Jesus. Trusting He is good. Trusting He is in control. Trusting He has done the work. Trusting He alone brings fulfillment. Trusting His work bears the fruit in us. Trusting that the confidence He gives is better than what we can drum up on our own and it is a permanent confidence.

Jeremiah 17:5 reminds us "cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength". Jeremiah is a great example of how trusting God carries us through adversity. Jeremiah knew drought, both in the physical and spiritual senses of the word. Jeremiah knew what it was like to be rejected. He questioned whether God would be to him a "deceptive brook, like a spring that fails." But in spite of all of this he continued to produce the fruit of faithfulness, because he didn't depend on his own strength but he trusted God.

He trusted God so much that he "ate" God's word. It was his nourishment. Fill yourself up on God's word. Let your roots reach deep into His word. Soak up the riches. It will carry you through drought, desertion, pain, and frustration. Being rooted in Jesus will carry you through cancer, transitions at work, relationship problems, and betrayal. Eat and drink from the life of Jesus, trust him, spread out the fibers of your roots in Him, and He will make you green and fruitful in a land that is arid, parched, and empty. Thank you Jesus for giving us nourishment!

Reflections

Wednesday, March 30 2005

Psalm 90--God is our dwelling place, our secret sins are in His presence, number my days--make sure I am striving to meet His goals each day. Don't waste time.

Mark 1--Jesus faced temptation, just like I do. Verse 35--Jesus prayed in the morning, even when He was busy. I need to do this.

Over nine years ago I wrote these simple reflections. I still have to remind myself not to waste time. I still have to remind myself to pray in the morning, especially when I am busy. As I re-read Psalm 90 I was more impressed with "the length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength." Most likely it is because I sense my own mortality to a much greater degree than back when I was 25. I'm not invincible, at least that thinking is wearing off.

One of my prayers that morning was asking God to "be with Jolene and me as we try to start a family." How He has been! A beautiful 8 year old daughter and strong 6 year old son. They both make me so proud. Ashtyn is so noticeably in love with Jesus. My prayer for her is that she would trust him more and not be so quick to cry and feel defeated when she does something wrong. Boy is that like me, probably all of us. Brock is my head strong, do it my way, almost first grader. He loves to read the Action Bible at night, I hope it is not just because he wants to delay going to bed! We are reading through Daniel right now and he is enthralled with his dreams and visions. "Is this real, dad?", "I didn't know that, dad!". He has so many questions, I love it.

As for being with Jolene and me--He has. There have been times we've been frustrated with life, each other, and the kids--mostly each other. But those times of frustration have been broken and shattered by our faith in Christ. He holds us together so that the times we can't hold it together, He does. I was reminded last week as I contemplated Colossians 1:17, "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Even our marriages. I am so thankful our marriage is in Jesus and not just in ourselves. Now, thankfully, those times of frustration get shattered more quickly than ever before. My prayer now is like my prayer of nine years ago, but also different,  "be with Jolene and me as our family is built to know and follow you more."

We don't know exactly how God will answer this prayer, but I do know we will know Him more nine years from now.