Hope for a tree and for me

By: Carole L. Haines

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not fail.
⁸ “Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
⁹ At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant. (Job 14:7-9)

While vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, my husband and I were hiking at the top of a mountain when we stumbled upon an amazing sight. An expanse of forest that had been burned out three years earlier in a wildfire. The tall trunks stood blackened as sentinels of a life that used to be.  But as we walked along, we discovered that these trees did not die in the fire. New growth was coming right out of the roots and very bottom trunks of these trees.  It was an amazing sight to see, death giving birth to life.  In the Scripture above, Job explains this phenomenon to us, from a different angle.  Hope for a tree, that seems to have expired.  But God was not finished with these trees, nor is He finished with us. His Word tells us:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus…for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 1:6, 2:13)

Are you at a place in your life where you feel all burned out? Or have you been hit by such a wave of loss that the grief of it seems to overwhelm you with sorrow? Have you back-slidden, fallen from God’s path…again? We all have, we all do. Life is hard, sometimes it is unbelievably hard. But our God is faithful. Look again at the picture of the trees above. That new life, that new growth is already inside of you as well. God is working to bring it forth. Don’t lose hope, just hold on to Him, look to Him, trust in Him and He will do it. Rest in the arms of your Almighty God, the Great I am.