A Tree Planted by Water
Jeremiah chapter 17:5-8 talks about two different people. A man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, and a man who trusts in the Lord. In our lives, all of us have experienced a desert, either you are in a desert now or have experienced one before. When we speak of a desert, we are talking about a situation of trial and tribulation. Some of you may have perhaps lost your job recently. Or maybe you are struggling for a VISA, or maybe you have lost a loved one. It may be a medical need, or a long term sickness and desert that you are going through. It may feel like there is no hope for the future. That is how a desert is.
In Jeremiah 17, he gives hope for people who are in the desert. Today I would like to meditate and learn about how we can grow in a desert. Maybe you are going through a desert-like trial where you have lost hope. Please turn with me to Jeremiah 17. When we read Jeremiah 17 there are real parallels between it and Psalm 1.
There is a contrast between a shrub in a desert and a tree in a desert. Both of them have the same environment but have two very different outcomes. Let’s read the text beginning at verse 5 of Jeremiah 17. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.’” - Jeremiah 17:5-6
You know, next to the Dead Sea in Israel you have a lot of salt, and nothing grows there except an occasional shrub. In contrast, verse 7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by water, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; (notice) but its leaves will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” - Jeremiah 17:7-8
I. Planted as the Right Tree
A shrub represents a life that is empty, a life that really exists but there is nothing steady holding it. There is no sense of well-being, no sense of meaning, and no real sense of permanent accomplishment. Whereas the tree represents a life that is really fruitful and strong. And God wants us as believers to be fruit bearing like a tree. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that if you aren’t bearing fruit, “he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:6) God wants us as believers to be fruit bearing. God wants us to bear fruit while we are going through our desert experience, and to not be anxious in a year of drought.
Well, what is fruit? Fruit is the expression of the inner nature. Bearing fruit means that we express the inner nature of God and through the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, in Galatians 5:22-23, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. According to the Scriptures, we need to bear these fruits in a year of drought, when the heat is the hottest, and there is no rain in the forecast.
Notice that not only are we able to bear fruit, but in Jeremiah 17:8 it says, “And will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” – even when times are bad. It’s possible to bear fruit in a time of drought, and it says in Psalm 1:3, “He brings forth his fruit in his season.” That doesn’t mean that there are times when I have the fruit of the Spirit, but there are other times when there is just no season for it. That’s not what it means. It means that there are times when there’s the season for figs, and there’s the season for oranges, and there’s the season for bananas. You are always bearing some fruit. It’s God’s intention that we always bear some fruit, We bear our fruits in His season.
Now if we want to thrive in the desert, be very clear first of all that we have to be a tree and not a shrub. If you are just a shrub – empty, aimless, without purpose, disconnected from God – you can never bear fruit. We have to distinguish fruit from work. The first way in which we can survive in the desert is number one, we have to be planted. We have to be a tree and not a shrub. How do I become a tree?”
Secondly, it is not only necessary that we must be a tree and not a shrub, but if we want to survive in the desert, we must be planted in the right place. Let’s go back to verse 8. “For he shall be like a tree planted by water, which spreads out its roots by the stream.” The illustration here is a flowing stream where the water is fresh as opposed to a stagnant pool. And how is a person planted? Verse 7: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” That’s the way we are planted close to a stream.
It really means faith – complete, total faith in God, and a willingness to say, “I trust God in the midst of the drought, in the midst of the heat, and I will not be shaken just because there does not seem to be the anticipation of any rain or moisture, because I’ve got a secret stream, and I’m planted next to the stream, and I can make it.”
There’s a true story about a young medical student who came to see his pastor. Clearly, he was going through a bit of difficulty. He hadn’t slept well because he had a lot of pressure on him to enter medical school. He hadn’t entered yet, but he didn’t think that his grades were high enough to get into medical school. And there was pressure on him from his parents and pressure from the family. He went to his pastor in distress. And he said, “I don’t think that my grades are high enough, and I have final exams soon, and I can’t sleep.”
So the pastor smiled at him and said, “All you need to do is give it all totally and completely to God. Get this weight off your shoulders and submit it to God. Say, ‘God, whether I pass or whether I fail is up to you. I’m going to do the best that I can, but I am just going to free myself from this unbelievable pressure and put everything in your hands.” Now this young man was a tree.
You can be a Christian and you can still be planted in the wrong place and not be beside the stream of water. And when that happens, even though you are a tree, you begin to look like a shrub, all dried up, with no real hope. Making it through life by courage and determination cannot compare with asking God to help. Everybody wants God’s help to do what they want to do, but with an unwillingness to finally give up the fight and give it to God totally.
Those who trust in the Lord “do not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green.” But contrast a man who trusts in himself, the person who says, “I’m going to do it my way.” Jeremiah 17:6 says, “He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.” He cannot see God. He’s a shrub in the desert.
Well, first of all, you have to be a tree if you want to survive in the desert.
II. Planted in the Right Spot
Secondly, you have to be planted at the right place. And third, you have to be growing to the right depth. Jeremiah 17:8. “For he shall be like a tree planted by water, which spreads out its roots by the stream.”
When you see a tree, especially large ones, there is as much beneath the ground as there is above the ground. In other words, that trunk and that root system goes down as deep as the tree is high, and then it extends these roots everywhere. The Bible says that when there is a drought we should be like a tree, which begins to seek water and its roots will go off to find water. That’s why it is true to say that when a tree grows in an atmosphere where there is plenty of moisture, its roots are not nearly as deep and as strong as trees that grow in a desert. Because its roots will grow relentlessly until it finds a stream.
You see, that’s what God does in our deserts. That’s what God does when things don’t turn out when we anticipate the future. And the future that we anticipate is very different from the future that happens. God wants you to develop strong roots that go down to a hidden stream so that you can endure it and so that you don’t have to be anxious, even in a year of drought. And you will be able to bear fruit all year long and forever more,
Some may ask; “How do you get this trust in God? How do you take those roots and develop them in a year of drought; in years of uncertainty, or in years where you don’t have or lose your job?” Here are some important steps.
First of all, this trust in God can only come from the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. And it says in Psalm 1:2-3 “But his delight is in the Law of God and in His law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season.” This is also paralleled in Jeremiah 17.
If you are nourished by the Word of God on Wednesday, you will be dry on Thursday. Nourishment that you received on Wednesday does not carry over to Thursday. Thursday doesn't carry over to Friday, and on and on it goes. And therefore if you are simply coming to church and you are not meditating in God’s Word, you will not be able to have the kind of faith that you need when we are going through a drought. We become anxious in times of drought. But those who meditate and nourish themselves in the Word of God daily will be secure and rooted during times of drought and pain.
Nourish yourself not only in the Word of God, but also in fellowship; fellowship with the body of Christ. Take a look at the roots of a redwood tree. They are not nearly as deep as you might think. Those roots spread out so there is a large root system under the tree, but they don’t go down as deeply. This is what the redwoods do: They connect with one another. If you could see under the soil you would find roots like a spider’s web. All of the trees are interconnected, so that if there’s one tree beside a stream, all of the other trees will benefit because they receive help from the one tree that has water.
Dear brothers, and sisters, if you are going through a trial, you can’t bear it alone, and God never intended you to. Your root system needs to be connected. If you only come to Church to worship on Sunday morning and you are not connected, it may well be that you can endure for a while, but a time will come when you become tired and weak. There might be times when you cannot believe on your own, but others can help you believe and hold you up. You can use their strength to be connected to the stream. That’s why we have a church.
We need to be planted in the right place. We need to be planted to the right depth. But why does God send droughts to us? Because droughts show the contrast between a tree and a shrub. That’s very important.
Now what does God do during a time of uncertainty? God wants to show that there is a difference between the Christian and the non-Christian because the Christian, as a tree, has resources in the year of drought. And that’s why whenever God sends sickness to a person who isn’t a believer, He also sends sickness to a Christian so that the world can see the difference. And when a Christian is laid off and a non-Christian is laid off, they react differently. Why? It’s because Christians have resources of spiritual water when the heat comes. And so God wants to use our challenges to show the world how we react differently. And then people begin to ask, “Why is it that you are able to endure?” Then we have the opportunity to become witnesses to the hidden stream because we are a tree which stands strongly rooted in God even during times of drought.
Conclusion
Jesus said that every plant that My Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. All the shrubs are going to be pulled out. You have to be planted by God. Are you planted by God? The Bible says that, if you confess your helplessness and your sins, if you confess that you cannot lean on your own righteousness but only the righteousness of God, you will be saved. Because you are planted by God. The Bible says, in Psalm 1:3 “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.” Amen.
