Why Hold Onto a Sapling?
From a photograph called Keeping the Tree Up
We're in a hurricane along the coast with gale-force winds and huge waves leaving everything cold and wet. Our eyes focus immediately on a lone man bracing himself from being blown away. How? By grabbing hold of a small sapling. Although his hands can easily grasp it, the tree bends and offers little sense of security.
Is the tree holding the man up or is the man holding the tree up as the title of this photograph suggests? What a graphic picture of man as we try to grab hold of weak things (that maybe appear strong) to keep life steady.
In the recent economic downturn, hundreds of thousands of people saw their bank accounts evaporate into nothing. It was a lifetime of savings that disappeared overnight. They were future securities evaporating into present smoke.
Would you really like to know that your feet are on solid ground? It's possible only if you are convinced that there is an almighty, unchangeable, omniscient God that deeply loves you and cares about what happens to you. This is hard for us to grasp. We prefer to hold onto something that's easy to get our hands around -- like a bank account, a husband, a good job, a house, our children.
But listen to what God's Son, Jesus Christ advises us if we want to live a stable and steady life. "Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse, because it is built on rock." Matthew 7:24-25 NLT
And why should we listen to Christ's teaching and obey it? Because it is God that "makes known the end from the beginning". His purpose will stand and He will do all that He pleases. (Isaiah 46: 10, 11b)
If someone knows the end of the story wouldn't he be worth listening to?