When my husband and I were kayaking last weekend, we paddled into a cove near a bridge on Falls Lake. As we entered the cove, we saw 50-60 dead trees at the back of the cove in very shallow water. It was an awesome but somewhat startling scene. It looked like an interesting place to explore. When we moved further into the cove and got closer to these trees, God gave me a simple revelation about these dead trees – they are like the people sitting on church pews today who do not know the revelation of Jesus Christ and the kingdom message. It was an incredibly clear message!
Some of the trees were very tall and looked like they had not been dead as long as others. There were some that were very short due to the “wear and tear” of the weather and water around it. The diameter of some was narrowed to a point from disintegration, and some trees were broken and fallen into the water.
God was showing me that these trees (like some people sitting on the church pews) have not been receiving the nourishment that they need to be green and alive. They are disintegrating, wearing away; they are stuck in the same places they have been for years and years. They are experiencing the same things that they have for years – the same seasonal celebrations, the same scriptural interpretations, the same expectation of church attendance and dress. No nourishment = no life!
The survival of trees depends upon its roots. It is the roots that give the trees nourishment. If the natural trees need water to survive, so do we. Trees are God's people! We are God's people, and therefore we are trees as stated in Mark 8:24: “And he looked up, and said I see men as trees, walking.”
But aren't those trees sitting in water? Why are they not surviving? Why are so many people sitting in this water but dying? Maybe it is because of the type of water they are sitting in. We need natural water, but we also need spiritual water or living water.- the Word of God. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:13-14 “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Psalm 1:1-3 states “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners (those sitting on the pews), nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit, in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
In Isaiah 61:3, God refers to his people as “trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he (God) might be glorified”. Isaiah 44:23 states “Sing, O ye heavens (that's us); for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye the lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains (that's us), O forest (that's us), and every tree therein (that's us): for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel (that's us).”
As God's people, we need a steady diet of spiritual water so that we're not sitting on those pews like “dead wood” but standing and singing praises to our Lord and Saviour for the living water!
- Rachel West and Pastor Gracie Perry
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