Good Roots, Thriving Faith
Proverbs 12:3, No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
I’ve read that verse many times, In the past, I’ve read it as, the righteous will never be moved. But, this time one word stood out to me that I passed over before, root. Roots are the lifeline of a tree and they are the lifeline of a Christian as well. As this verse says, it is our root that will never be moved. So, the question becomes, “How strong and healthy are our roots?” The roots of the righteous are planted in soil which gets its nutrients from the living water i.e. God’s Word and prayer. If our roots are not being fed properly they will become unhealthy and weak and my guess is that when the pressures and hard times come, our faith will be stressed or worse yet, wither away.
What if the soil in which you find yourself rooted is not good soil such as a toxic work environment, a tough marriage or other relationship, hard financial times, etc., what then? You can allow your faith to wither or you can figure out how to thrive in the current environment until something changes.
I was reminded of this several years back when we put a small pond in our backyard (why we did that involved turtles but that story is for another time). Apparently the soil around the pond was not great for plants as it had too much clay. So while the soil received water from the sprinklers, the water never was absorbed deep into the soil and dried out quickly in the Texas sun. One of the plants we put around the pond was struggling to survive in those tough conditions, but the other one was thriving.
The answer to why that was the case is a simple one. The roots of the struggling plant allowed the environment to decide its source of water while the other plant adapted to its environment in order to ensure it stayed connected to the water. The picture below shows how the plant on the right stayed connected to the water and was thereby able to thrive in pretty harsh conditions.
We can do the same with our situation. We can allow our situation to define how we live as a Christian or we can stay connected to the living water (Jesus, God’s Word, and prayer) and have all the resources we need to thrive regardless of our situation.
Choose to glorify God and watch as he blesses you and/or blesses someone else through you when you stay connected to the Living Waters from a healthy relationship with Christ Jesus.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13,14.
