29.08.10 - Surviving the Tough Times

Two weeks ago we looked at Psalm 1 which used two contrasting images – a tree planted by a stream of water that was healthy and fruitful, and chaff, the husks off the grain that are good for nothing and which blow away in the wind.

The image of the tree planted by the water is also used by Jeremiah and I’d like to look at that. But, again, two images are used and they are very different. They are designed to provide a contrast. And, again, they illustrate two types of people. Look at these two images (a bush in a parched, salty desert, barely growing at all, and a tree planted by water.)

READ Jeremiah 17:5-8

Have we got those two images in our minds: a bush planted in wasteland, in a desert, in a salt land where no one lives; a tree planted by water, whose roots go down giving a constant supply of water. Even when drought comes, it remains healthy and it continues to bear fruit.

But Jeremiah is not giving a lesson on trees. He is talking about people – two types of people. Through the prophet, Jeremiah, God illustrates two types of people: those who trust in Him and whose confidence is in Him and those who trust in people, who depend on flesh.

When David went out to fight Goliath, what did he trust in? Did he think he could defeat Goliath by himself?

Look up the story in 1 Samuel 17. King Saul said to David, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are little more than a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

Saul was right. David couldn’t do it.

But David replied, “When a lion or a bear came and carried off one of my father’s sheep, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. If it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.” It sounds as if David has an inflated opinion of himself. It was all about what he could do, but then we get things in perspective. He said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

David had killed lions and bears but he wasn’t trusting in his own skill or strength. He could do it only because God rescued him. When it came to fighting Goliath, he again trusted that God would rescue him.

For your future security, are you trusting God to provide or are you trusting in your investments? Where is your focus at the moment? Are you preoccupied with storing up money for a rainy day and therefore not serving God? Are you storing up treasure on earth instead of treasure in heaven? Maybe if we served God, He would provide for our futures. But can we serve, really trusting that He will look after us?

The Bible is full of stories of great armies being defeated by much smaller armies that simply trusted in God. God says do not put your trust in horses and chariots. Can you trust me?

In our work or our relationships or our ministries we can trust in our training, our strength, our skills, our knowledge, our persuasiveness instead of in God. Those who trust in flesh are the bush in the salty desert.

But some people trust in God and their confidence is not in their accumulated money or their qualifications. Their confidence is in God. They know that God will look after them; God will provide for them; God will enable them to do what they could not do without Him; God will do miracles.

Jesus said, “You are going to be arrested and tried before kings. Don’t worry about what you will say because the Holy Spirit will give you the words.” Can we trust God to give us the words?

God says those who trust in themselves or other people, are cursed; they are like that stunted bush in the salt land. Even when prosperity comes, these people don’t share in it. That is a bad picture. I don’t want that to be God’s assessment of me; that I am a stunted bush producing nothing.

By contrast, the tree by the stream is blessed. Trouble will come. It is described here as heat and drought. The tree isn’t spared trouble but God says it doesn’t fear the heat; it has no worries in the year of drought.

Why not? Because its roots go deep and even when there is little water, it still has a supply and so it can remain strong.

It seems to me the emphasis in these verses is on survival; surviving the tough times – the drought, the heat. Again, it is talking about people. People who trust in God can survive tough times.

We sometimes say, “I don’t know how non-Christians survive tough times like this when they don’t have God to lean on.” The Christian knows what it is to lean on God when the going gets tough. Even in the drought the tree with deep roots that is planted by a stream can still get water. In the same way, even in troubling times, the person who trusts in God still receives help. If this person lives close to God and has put his/her roots down into God, then, even in tough times, he/she has a source of peace and help and strength. Being able to draw from God means we can survive when everything around us is turning to custard. There is enough in God to sustain us through that time and God is always there.

The leaves of this tree are always green. In other words, the person who trusts in God is always sustained; is never defeated by the difficult circumstances.

It never fails to bear fruit. This person doesn’t merely survive. Even in the tough times, the person who trusts God can be productive. Consider, for example, a Christian thrown into prison for his faith. Today we have handed out envelopes for support for people who are persecuted for their faith. In many parts of the world, Christians are suffering simply because they are Christians. This week, .........., one of our ............in Sudan, sent an email asking for prayer for a Samaritan’s Purse humanitarian worker kidnapped in Dafur in May. ..........said conditions in Dafur are deteriorating fast and the insecurity is causing many people to leave for safety reasons. .............asked us to join others in prayer for her: that she will be strong in captivity, that she would be protected body, mind and soul and that God would get the glory if and when she is released.

She is one of many Christians imprisoned and persecuted. Please do consider giving to support our persecuted brothers and sisters. They trust in God and God will deliver – through our giving.

Imagine being one of those Christians thrown into a terrible prison. God is able to bring peace even there. Those Christians can survive if they know how to trust in God. Paul and Silas were once in prison in Philippi yet they were found singing hymns in the middle of the night. They weren’t drunk or mentally unstable. They knew God’s presence in the prison and had confidence in Him despite the circumstances.

But that story, in Acts 16, also illustrates the other part of what Jeremiah says. Not only did their leaves remain green, they didn’t fail to produce fruit. Even in that prison they preached about Jesus to the jailor and he and his whole family were converted.

And, Paul and Silas were miraculously released from the prison which was, for them, another consequence of trusting in God.

Today, no doubt, many of those persecuted Christians maintain their sanity and their joy in prison because they are able to draw from the God they have come to know and trust. And many will witness in prison so that others also come to know Jesus. Their leaves remain green and they never fail to bear fruit.

Does this passage from Jeremiah mean that things always go well for the person of faith and always go badly for those who simply trust in worldly means? No. We know that often it is the ungodly who seem to have the easy life and all the material possessions. Sometimes they look like the strong green tree while those who do trust God look like the starved bush. Sometimes it looks as if the ungodly flourish and the faithful Christian struggles. If you wonder about that seeming injustice, read psalms 37 and 73.

Ps 37:35-36 35
I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,
36 but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.

In the short-term it seems unjust but take a long term view and you realise that God is just.

There is all sorts of practical advice I could give about surviving tough times. I could talk about making sure you have a nest egg in the bank. I could talk about keeping fit and healthy. Get a good lawyer. But a nest egg can disappear overnight if the economy fails. It is very unreliable. God can provide. Can we trust Him to provide? Those who trust God are more secure than those who trust banks.

Jeremiah’s advice is not superficial. It is not that a nest egg or a good lawyer are inherently wrong. It is just a question of where we put our confidence. The real way to survive tough times is to have confidence in God. Those who trust God are like a tree planted by the water. Those people can survive anything.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus pleaded with God to be spared the cross. It was a desert time for Him but Jesus’ roots went deep. He had a close relationship with His Father. He trusted Him and when He wrestled in prayer His roots went deep enough to find God and in God He found the peace that enabled Him to calmly face those who would arrest Him.

Even on the cross, in all the horror and turmoil of that, He talked to God and committed Himself into God’s hands. That was where His trust was. That was where His confidence lay. His roots were deep enough to find water even then. And He never failed to bear fruit. It was on the cross that He achieved His finest hour, when He saved the world by dying for it.

Three days later Jesus knew the joy of the resurrection and the joy of knowing He had done all that God has asked of Him. He had been faithful, trusting His Father. His Father had been faithful.

How deep are your roots? Deep enough to find God even in tough times?

We can trust Jesus who loved us so much He was willing to lose everything to die for us. We can trust God who is able to bring resurrection out of crucifixion. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They are like a tree planted by the water.