Storms Come and Storms Go - Will YOU Be Left Standing?

Last evening as I was driving home at a late hour, I came around a curve on a dark country road ... when, through the open windows came a loud crack. Looking to my right, I noticed a huge tree beginning to fall. Quickly projecting where it would land ... I breathed a sigh of relief as the tree began its descent to earth. Fortunately for me it fell somewhat parallel to the road (although some of its branches did reach the shoulder).  After my heart stopped pounding, I offered up a prayer of thanksgiving to God for his protective hand upon me!

As I continued my drive toward home, I began to think about what might have caused such a large tree to come crashing down. Here's my theory. Earlier last evening a huge storm(s) blew through our area. In addition to lots of vivid lightening, booming thunder and gusty winds, the storm(s) dropped more than a few buckets of rain. This in turn softened the soil in which this particular tree was rooted - which caused the tree to lose its stability. Lacking roots that were firmly planted in solid ground ... the tree fell to the earth. 

I think I see a lesson in this for us. We as believers face many storms in life. We don't invite them ... and we surely don't welcome them when they come. But come they will. Whether we will "weather" them will be determined ... to a large degree ... by how well we are "grounded" in God's Word. In Psalm 1, a man who delights in God's Word and spends time meditating on it .. is compared to a tree that is planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:2-3). So if we want to be a tree that is planted ... and firmly planted so that we will be able to bear the brunt of life's storms and be fruitful as we do so ... then being in God's Word is a non negotiable. We must seek to learn it ... and then we must seek to put it into practice. Anything less is asking for trouble! 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 

pj