Midweek Encouragement - "A Living Stump or a Dead Tree?”

"Could This Be a Year of Uprooting?"

       It’s been almost four years since we planted a row of small trees behind our house here in Linglestown. Our grandsons were still small enough to ride their battery-powered John Deere Gator around the yard so I also “planted” a wooden stake beside each of the baby trees to try to protect them from being squished. Four years later, some of those little pine trees have grown taller than their protective stakes. Others simply won’t thrive. To be honest, I haven’t fertilized any of them, watered them or composted around them. Some just refuse to thrive while some are growing very well.

         What makes the difference? Some trees won’t thrive while some trees simply won’t die. There’s an apple tree in my mother’s backyard that was blown over and snapped off by a fierce wind many years ago. I thought it was a goner for sure. But the old apple tree refused to die. The deer consistently eat it, in the summer the mower regularly whacks it, but that ugly apple tree continues to produce fruit.

         I really think it’s all in the roots. Some of the little pine trees I planted in my backyard are consistently drowned by a stream that surfaces during heavy rains. Their roots get too wet and that stream washes away their nutrients. The apple tree in my mother’s backyard enjoys plenty of sunshine and rarely are its roots under water. The key to a tree’s health is in the health of its roots. It’s all in the roots.

         God’s promises to us are like deep, vibrant roots. His promises run far back to the early eons of time. Moses recorded the first of them in Genesis:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel”  (Genesis 3:15).

         God spoke those words to satan after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in Eden. That passage may not sound like much of a promise to you, but behind those words is God’s commitment to send you a Savior. Eve’s offspring, Jesus, came to crush the power of sin, death, and the devil.

         God planted that promise as soon as the seeds of sin began to germinate on earth. The promise wouldn’t die. Satan tried to chop it down and chip away at it with all kinds of fierce threats like idolatry, wars, and temptation. Sometimes the promise looked like it had been blown over and crushed into a stump.

         And yet, out of that stump came a shoot. And out of that shoot came a branch, leaves, and fruit. Jesus is the fruit of the promise God made in Genesis. The deep roots of God’s power and love will never die! And the amazing fact is that God made the power of that Promise available to YOU . . . today! So if you’re feeling defeated, washed away by the streams of stress and the winds of adversity, remember to put your faith in Jesus, my friend. He’s God’s unstoppable, incredible Promise of forever life to you. Sin and death will not win in your life if you’re rooted in Him.

Pastor Dale (PD) and Pamela his wife are honored to serve the Mt. Laurel Church of God. If this Mid-Week Encouragement has helped you, perhaps it may encourage someone else. Feel free to share this email with anyone you choose. And if for some reason you'd like to stop receiving PD's Mid-Week Encouragement, just send me an email (kingdomguy@gmail.com) and I'll accommodate your request.