God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

I was walking my dogs the other day after a terrible storm with wind gusts over 60 miles an hour, when I came upon a fallen tree.  It was a large tree, probably 20 feet in height and healthy looking.  It shocked me that such a big tree could be blown over in 60 mile/hour winds.  Attached to the trunk were the roots, but it wasn’t a ball, it was a round flat mass of roots that didn’t go into the earth more than six inches. It looked like a Christmas tree skirt made of roots.

Why didn’t this tree dig its roots down deep to secure itself? I thought. I looked at the landscape of that area of the park and realized that the tree sat in a depression and water pooled around it. The tree had no need to dig deep roots to reach water, it had all the water it desired right there on top of the surface.

The tree had nothing to strive for, the water was there and the sun was readily available because the tree was planted out in the open. So the tree just grew higher and higher. Then the storm came and the tree had no anchor, no deep roots to hold it secure- thus save it’s life. This allowed it to give way to the high winds and it toppled over.

This is what can happen to us if we don’t encounter difficult circumstances and harsh conditions at various times in our lives. We have no reason to seek God – no reason to seek what is best rather than what is easiest. We just go about our merry way, earning money, spending it and taking care of our responsibilities. We essentially say “God, I got this, you can help someone else!” This is exactly how I felt until my life made a harsh turn.

During a life “storm,” it is difficult to see that there can be a huge purpose to our suffering. All we see as humans, is that it hurts and God can fix it if he wanted to fix it. God can cure health issues immediately. God can make plans succeed. God can change a spouses’ attitude. God can provide a better job. Yes, God can do all of these things but, what if He did answer these prayers of ours immediately and it caused more problems we never even considered.

For instance, on that same walk, my dogs wanted to drink water out of the man made pond that we passed. They were panting and it was hot- I had forgotten to bring their water bottle. They pulled on their leashes to get to the water, but I wouldn’t let them drink because chemicals are poured into the pond every few months to keep the weeds at bay. All my dogs knew was that they were thirsty NOW and I was letting them suffer. They didn’t understand.

When we don’t get our desires met immediately, we could take the attitude that the Lord is mean, harsh and unloving – I know I have felt this way many times.  As I stayed in faith and continued to follow the Lord even when I couldn’t understand why He was letting me suffer, I learned years later, that many of my prayers -if answered the way I wanted them to be answered – would have ended in an outcome that wasn’t the best for my life.  More importantly, if my prayers were answered immediately, I would have been denied the “thirst” for knowledge about our Lord and the rock solid faith that I have right now.

“I lift my hands to you in prayer, I thirst for you as a parched land thirsts for rain.” (psalm 143:6NLT)

This would have denied God the ability to have a relationship with me – the only way He can bless me further and show His glory in my life.

I’d rather not have the valley experiences in life and would very much enjoy living the high life daily thank you very much. But life doesn’t work this way and fighting against it will cause more pain- like the pain of the leash on my dog’s neck as they tugged to drink the chemical laden water. I must learn to trust the one yoked to me because He is never harsh on purpose, it is always to keep us safe, protected and bring us to our best life.

Music For Your Soul:

Trust In You by Lauren Daigle.