“You won't have to lift a hand in this battle; just stand firm, Judah and Jerusalem, and watch God's saving work for you take shape.” 2Chronicles 20:14 Message
This past summer I studied trees. For two months I just watched, touched them, talk to God about them and wrote about them. I studied their shapes, their roots, their branches and leafs, their fruits, their movements and especially their STILLNESS. I wanted to understand what it means to simply stand firm and watch God do the work, especially in times of battle. Trees stand firm, do nothing but stand firm. You cannot pick them up with your hands and move them to another place, you cannot pressure them to do things, you cannot redirect their focus by natural means. They just stand there, pointing to the sky. Trees stand firm. They don’t talk but do what God made them to do- they praise him by their simple existence and stillness. They are still watching their environment around them. People are not still. People are not standing firm, we tend to be in charge of everything else around us…and yet the Lord calls us to be firm…to stand firm and watch Him move.
Trees are able to stand firm because of their strong roots. Some trees are weaker than the others, because their roots are not developed and so when the wind storm comes, they will be the first ones to break and under the pressure of the wind fall and die. Roots are important for trees, the deeper the roots, the stronger the foundation. Observe branches…some appear to be stronger than others… some stretch to the sky to get the sun, and others go to the side as if they were distracted. The distracted branches will soon die, because they don’t reach for the sun, which gives them light to live, and they are not surrounded by other stronger branches that could cover over them and protect them. Then we have leafs. It is interesting to observe that the most beautiful leafs, filled with most life and color are found on the top of the tree. The branches that are closer to the sun will produce beautiful and rich in color leafs. Leafs and branches are moved only by the wind that blows on them and directs their movement and extend to which they will move. The branches and leafs have no choice, but to do what the winds has them do. And then finally the kind of fruit or lack of, that they produce. Overall, trees could be put in different categories. I saw some tress that were strong and intimidating me with their majesty; some trees overwhelmed me with their beauty; some were so weak that it would take only one blow of the wind and they would fall; some had their branches go to the left side, making the whole tree bend that way and finally fall or break; some trees had no leafs, their branches were dried out, but on the top there was hope- a beautiful green crown of newborn leafs; there were trees that were connected by their roots, their branches were united protecting one another, their trunks connected to make them stronger, both reaching to the sky- it was powerful; and yet there were some that were not connected by roots, only by their branches and you could see that they had divided focus, and so as the one tree leaned to the right side, the other one would also begin to lean and both would finally break and fall down once a gentle wind came- so sad. More and more, but the basic principle for every tree to make it through to storms was to have strong roots, reach for the sun, and finally stand firm.
I compared those observations with people. All the different trees are different kinds of people. I see the importance of their strong roots, as our importance of being in the Word of God, because it is it that will make us strong and stand the storms in our lives. The stretched out branches, are our arms constantly getting a hold of our Lord, in all that we do, symbolizing our surrender to Him. The trunk of the tree which focuses on growing up, are our hearts and eyes that constantly focus on the Lord only and His will for us. We cannot loose a sight of that, is we do, we begin to bend over and just like the tree that makes us weaker and leads to fall. Leafs are sings of how we are living our daily Christian life in this place, we can live it to the fullness or not. And then the fruits… if we produce good fruits in our lives, then this is yet another sign that we focus on our God and he sends us his blessings.
“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corn.15:58
God tells us over and over to stand firm. For me this means to focus and rely only on Him; to surrender; to give him my all and my best of all; to be lost in him and to see him behind everything that is good and his; to know that he is in control and takes best care of me; to trust him; to be confident in him and him alone. To stand firm for me, means to let his will be done, and not mine; to let him do what he has been doing before the ages; and to accept the privilege of living a life of praise and enjoying all of his creation. It also means that he equipped me to be in this position of worship, so that the desires of my heart could take place… but that will be another blog. Simply research the phrase “stand firm” on BibleGateway and you will see, how important it is for us to stand firm as the Lord does his work around us. Stand firm does not mean not to speak up when injustice is taking place next to us…stand firm means to counsel first the kingdom of God before reacting on our impulses. Standing firm is not a waste of time…it is not being lazy or useless...standing firm is a call to us from God, which will allow us to see his will, to hear his voice and to do what we were meant to do…to surrender to him, to glorify him and to bring him honor…to worship him with our lives, spirits, hearts and bodies…to please him and to be pleased by him…as we take a part in his victory.
Lord Jesus, I pray that we will be like the trees: when prompted by your Holy Spirit to move, we will have no choice of our will but to make a move in the direction you lead us. I pray that we will not think about your call twice, but that we will wait firmly on you and make the move when the wind of your Spirit blows on us. Tress are a symbol of obedience and strength; submission and stillness…let us also become like the trees…patience and diligence is what we need Jesus… please pour it down on us, as we live in such a busy and unstable world. We are yours Jesus. This generation God is yours and always will be! In Jesus name, through the power of His blood shed for us, I pray. Amen.
“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.” 1Corn.16:13 NLT
“It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ.” 2Corn. 1:21 NLT
“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” Eph.6:11 NLT
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