Like a Tree Planted by the Water

Today I’m clinging to this passage of Scripture from Jeremiah 17,

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.” 

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

I can’t believe that I have never really read this passage before. I remember I heard the lead singer of Casting Crowns talking about it being the foundation for their new song “Thrive,” but even then, I didn’t go read it. Today, I did a search for Bible verses that are about trusting God’s plan and this came up as the first passage. What a blessing! As I read it, verse by verse, carefully, I began to exhale and I felt the anxiety that had built-up through the awaking moments of the night…start to leave my body.

My trust and confidence in the Lord make me like that tree planted by the water that never dries up. In times of trial, when the fire comes, the tree planted by the Living Water does not fear the heat or even the years of drought because it is tapped into the Water that satisfies and that quenches the thirst forever. Even in hard times, the tree that is connected to the River of God does not wither, turn or become barren. Its fruits pop up regardless of the conditions of the environment around it because the water that sustains it never runs dry.

Like the song says, “we were made to thrive.” No matter what, we are not supposed to live in fear or enslaved by our circumstances. We are planted by the water and we trust our roots are deeply submerged into the source of life and hope…overflowing in that peace like a river, and gripping that Solid Rock that is our Lord!