(by Carley Evans on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 4:44pm)Are you able to remain green when “the heat comes” “in a year of drought?” Are your roots stretched “along the stream” “like a tree planted by the waterside?” When the sky dries up and rain does not fall, are you able to “bear fruit?” Are you able to see “when good comes” because “your heart is [not] far from the Lord?” (Jeremiah 17:6)
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and rests his confidence upon Him. He is like a tree.” He is like a tree with a healthy root system and full foliage that “stays green.” This man “has nothing to fear.” He “feels no care, and does not cease to bear fruit” for the Lord.
Yet, Jesus asks: “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” And here is another parable that [Jesus] tells. It is aimed at those who are sure of their own goodness and look down on everyone else. ‘Two men go up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stands up and prays thus: ‘I thank Thee, O God, that I am not like the rest of men, greedy, dishonest, adulterous; or, for that matter, like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all that I get.’ But the other keeps his distance and does not even raise his eyes to heaven, but beat upon his breast, saying, ‘O God, have mercy on me, sinner that I am.’ It is this man, I tell you, and not the other, who goes home acquitted of his sins. For everyone who exalts himself is humbled; and whoever humbles himself is exalted.’ ” (Luke 18:8-14)
The man who is exalted is the one who puts his trust in the Lord; the one who recognizes that “the heart is the most deceitful of all things, desperately sick; who can fathom it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) The man who prays, “Heal me, O Lord, and I am healed, save me and I am saved;” (Jeremiah 17:14) this is the one who is exalted. This man is “like a tree planted by the waterside, that stretches its roots along the stream, When the heat comes, it has nothing to fear.”
Grace Partakers 