May 2, 2022
Jeremiah 17:7-8 – Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord. The Lord will be his confidence. He will be like a tree that is planted by water. It will send its roots down to a stream. It will not be afraid in the heat of summer.
Its leaves will turn green. It will not be anxious during droughts. It will not stop producing fruit.
(Mirrored Psalm 1:1-3)
There’s so many references in scripture of people likened to plants, their hearts like soil etc. But the contrast that becomes truly evident is in the verses before.
Jeremiah 17:5-6 – This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts humans, who makes flesh and blood his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wilderness. He will not see when something good comes. He will live in the dry places in the desert, in a salty land where no one can live.
The unrighteous is also likened to a plant, but that’s as far as it goes. Many times we look at those who do evil and they are prospering (Psalm 73:2-5) or appear to be so. But then you take stock of the differences between a bush and a tree.
A Tree:
- Has long roots that can reach water that other plants can’t.
- A tree takes a long time to grow, to reach maturity. But once it does, it towers over everything else (except other trees).
- It’s branches provide shade.
- It’s fruit is plentiful for many years.
- It is difficult to cut down.
- It can withstand (most times) the harshest weather.
- It takes a long time to bear fruit.
A Bush:
- It has shallow roots that primarily absorb surface water.
- It grows quickly and rarely grows tall.
- It offers a little shade except if the sun is at the right angle to cast a long shadow.
- The fruit is plentiful.
- It is easy to cut down or die in a bushfire.
- It rarely survives harsh weather.
- It bears fruit very quickly.
We look at those who prosper quickly and it’s easy to look at our slow progress and lament because the bush is already taller and getting ready to produce fruit. We are there still trying to put down proper roots. And then we start to grow. It’s so slow but at least now we’re the same height as the bush – who is bearing fruit. Delicious berries etc and there’s none on ours. We are still growing and there is no resources to put out flowers yet.
The truth is Yahweh doesn’t plant for the short term. He plans for generations to come. A bush doesn’t live long and it doesn’t leave a legacy. But a tree? There are trees hundreds of years old with a legacy spanning even longer. Those who are fed by its fruit, not just for a season, but for seasons and years. The comfort it provides to the weary soul. Most trees only need water to sustain it, while bushes need to be taken care of to last longer. The truth is: both bushes and trees are part of the same ecosystem. And so it is in life. We live with both, but only one really lasts for a while.
And it’s funny that as I went mango picking today that another comparison just came to mind: between the mango tree and the pomegranate plant.
(Caveat – pomegranate can also grow into a tree if pruned and not left to its own devices -also says a lot about pruning from Yahweh).
What bothered me though was the accessibility. Maybe bothered isn’t the right word. Now I know that pomegranates stop ripening once picked, but as I was attempting to get another one that looked ripe it refused to leave the tree. What was also obvious was that the food did not fall when it was ripe. It would stay on the tree, overripe, burst and still stay on the tree!
Whereas the mango? It gave its fruits willingly. A mere touch and it came off. Once ripe, it fell and was either eaten or provided additional nourishment for the roots. I honestly felt disappointed by the pomegranate plant. The mango tree? Enough to satisfy. And honestly I love when Yahweh provides his object lesson to go with the reading. I had no idea what Jeremiah 17 would be about, except warnings for Israel. But here I am reading about trees and bushes and you always showing beforehand to explain what I will be reading.
As much as I like pomegranates, I don’t want to hold on to my fruit that way. I prefer to be the mango tree.
Jeremiah’s Prayer
Jeremiah 20:14-18 – Cursed is the day that I was born, the day that my mother gave birth to me. May it not be blessed.
Cursed is the man who made my father very happy with the news that he had just become the father of a baby boy.
May that man be like the cities that the Lord destroyed without pity. May he hear a cry of alarm in the morning and a battle cry at noon.
If only he had killed me while I was in the womb. Then my mother would have been my grave, and she would have always been pregnant.
Why did I come out of the womb? All I’ve seen is trouble and grief. I will finish my days in shame.
Sadments. Jeremiah’s prayer is heartbreaking. Here is Yahweh’s servant, crying out, wishing he hadn’t been born because of the trouble that he was experiencing doing what Yahweh asked him to do.
His lament was similar to Job’s (Job 3), the different though is in the response from Yahweh. He rebuked Job for calling him to question. He continued to strengthen Jeremiah to do his work.
No lie, I’m tempted to skip ahead and research what happened to Jeremiah in the end (shameface), I have no idea. But I will wait and continue reading.
TODAY’S THANKFUL TALLY
- Mango and pomegranate lesson.
- Sleep! (Oh how I love thee!)
- Completing some personal work.
- Jeremiah 10-20.
