Have you ever been through a really severe drought? Not just a few weeks or a month or so with little rain, a rain deficit, but a period of several years where there has been little rain? I remember watching some documentaries about great droughts that brought on the Dust Bowl in the American Plains during the 1930’s. During extended droughts, most plant life will wither and die due to lack of water. Most plants only have a chance to survive if it is close to a water source, such as a river. Only those trees planted by rivers, with roots that go down deep, will remain green and alive. Our Scripture today, from the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany, describes such a tree, in contrast with one withered by a drought, comparing that with the life of one who trusts and follows the Lord versus one who does not.
For many years, many generations, the people of Judah had been mixing their worship of Yahweh, the one true God, with the pagan worship of false gods and idols. And instead of completely trusting in the Lord God for help and deliverance from the military threats of neighboring nations, they instead made military alliances with other foreign, pagan nations. God warned the people through the prophet Jeremiah, just as He does to us today, that when troubles come, if we’re trusting in someone or something else other than Him, we will be barren and unfruitful (vs. 5-8). Those who trust in the Lord are fruitful, like a tree planted by water.
We all face troubles in our life. In the last few years many of us around the world have been bombarded with many serious problems, sometimes more than what we can handle on our own. Scripture instructs us, during these times, to put our trust in God, not in man. Trying to replace God’s help with a man’s will only result in hardship and failure. Only God can be our strength. We cannot find it in ourselves or someone else.
With everything that is going on in the world today, with wars and rumors of war, so much illness, hostility with people everywhere, people want to turn to something for help. God promised that those who turned to Him would be nourished, like that green and fruitful tree by the river during a drought. Those who turn elsewhere will wither.
During these difficult times, God is right there with us. He knows what we are going through. If we turn to Him, He will be our safe place, and will keep us well-watered. God, alone, is our life-giving Source. His refreshment runs so deep that we are strengthened and nourished in spite of what is taking place in the world around us. God wants us to be like the well-watered tree, clinging close to the water source, close to Him.
Don’t be like a tumbleweed. Tumbleweeds come off of their roots very easily. They live in places where rain is scarce and the land is dry. They easily dry up, snap off their roots, and roll around. They are the opposite of the tree described by Jeremiah. Those trees, though in drought, never dry up. Their roots go deep and are strong. The tree remains nourished.
As Jeremiah closes up this portion of Scripture, he gives us a description of the heart of man, a description of all of our hearts. The heart here is describing man’s innermost being, the bent of man’s natural disposition. Without God man’s heart is deceitful. It is desperately wicked, incurably sick. Just a cursory look around at the world today shows this to be true. Our heart will lie to us. Our feelings are not reliable. Emotions can lead us in devastating ways (Proverbs 16:25; Ecclesiastes 9:3). We cannot trust our heart. It has been inclined towards sin from the time we were born. Only God truly knows our heart, and only He can redeem it. Only a person with a redeemed heart can live in proper fellowship with God.
If we give our hearts to God, allowing Him to redeem us from our wickedness, as we turn to Him during times of drought in our life, during days when everything around us seems to be perilous, we can be that green, flourishing, fruitful tree. We don’t need to be a dried up tumbleweed any longer.
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