Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12 NKJV
Something I just heard got me to thinking about how God uses trials in our lives. “If there is plenty of water, a tree’s roots will only be on the surface. When a tree has to search for water, it’s roots will go deep and be able to withstand storms.”
This had me thinking about two different trees in my life.
When I was a young man, we lived in a house near a lake. There was this huge tree in our yard, that had surface roots. One day a hurricane came and it fell over easy.
Another tree, just recently in my life, was looking for a water source. It’s roots went to one of our toilet’s drains, because of a small leak, causing the toilet to run slow. This tree, because it’s roots are deep, is able to withstand hard winds, it doesn’t falter.
This is how I think it applies:
If everything in our walks were so easy, without complications, we would be like the tree in my yard that blew over easy. We would not have a good foundation, because we would be lackadaisical about praying, searching/studying scripture, fellowship, etc. We would have no reason to grow deeper in faith and our roots, so to speak, would be on the surface, and we could be easily shaken.
If we are like the tree that clogged the toilet, our roots would be deep. We would be praying, searching/studying scripture, fellowship, etc. looking for answers.
We don’t always know why God allows trials in our lives. What we do know, is if we work on our “roots being deeper”, we would be able to withstand trials. Why? Because our foundation is built in Christ.
We need to always be working on allowing our roots to go deep so we can withstand any storm with Christ.