IN HIS GRIP: PLANTED DEEP

I like listening to Charlie Hall’s song called Lamp. It talks about the Word of God being the light that guides your path, and how everything will someday fade away but God’s Word will remain faithful and true. But what really captured my heart was the line “Plant me deep like a tree by the stream.”

Why did this line strike me deeply?

We once had a meeting  at *RBI. We hear about recession often enough, and sadly, RBI isn’t immune to the effects of the instability of the worldwide economy. I sometimes flinch at the thought of the international funding agencies cutting off their allotted budgets for the non-profit organizations that they are supporting throughout the Asia. This news could really set off anxiety. But it was comforting to have personally witnessed how God has provided for RBI all these years.

Later that night, God reassured me with His Word in Jeremiah 17:7-8. It says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep in the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

A man of strong faith in God reminded me of the huge trees by the rocky stream in Los Baños, Laguna (during our biology class in college). These trees have survived through seasons. Their roots were planted so deeply that they not only withstand the currents of water during the storms, but also were able to get the nourishment they need to survive the dry seasons.

But a man of weak faith will be easily shaken just like a shrub with shallow roots planted by the river, effortlessly swept away by strong currents and would easily wither in times of drought.

Satan has this deceiving way of magnifying problems and trials inside our heads and shrinking down the greatness of our Creator. That is why it is important for all of His children to know who God is and to realize how immeasurable His enormity is. This way, we will always get the right picture – that these problems and trials are merely microscopic when compared to our Great God.

Let it be the prayer of our hearts this 2012 – that God “plant us deep like a tree by the stream.” We don’t exactly know what lies ahead, but knowing that it is God who owns our lives, we have nothing to be anxious about. In fact, we can “rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4)” because, the Lord himself declared, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).”

*RBI stands for Resouces for the Blind,Inc. -- a non-profit Christian organization in the Philippines, where I used to work.