Before the Storm Hits

This past weekend my 14-year-old son and I were doing some backwoods hiking through Michigan’s Pontiac Lake Recreation Area.

As we worked our way around a swamp, we noticed several huge trees (with trunks too big to reach around) that had been blown over by a storm. Curiously, others of comparable position and size were still standing. Why did such large, substantial-looking trees crash to the ground?

We examined the root balls—or rather “root pancakes”. The exposed root systems torn from the ground were wide shallow “pancakes.” It was impossible for these “pancakes” to anchor the trees against strong winds, and storms blew them right over.

I wondered “How can I have a deep root system so that I’m not blown over in a storm?”

I thought of a similar analogy Jesus used comparing houses built upon rock and sand:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

According to Jesus, the way to build a firm foundation or the way to grow a deep root system is to hear Christ’s word and to act upon it. That is, there are 2 essential steps to building a strong foundation, to growing deep roots that will weather the storms of life:
1. Know the Bible—read it, meditate on it, discuss it
2. Obey the Bible

Both steps are essential. Doing the first, but not the second, is building on sand according to Jesus.

To build on rock, to grow deep roots, I have to ground myself in the truth of Scripture and obey the Bible daily in each small choice God places before me.

When the storm hits, it’s too late to develop a deep, anchoring root system. Grow your roots deep now, while there is time, by daily choosing righteousness. Build your firm foundation now.

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
Monday October 8, 2007 A.D.

Read October’s Bible-Science column
Noah’s Flood—A Global Event
in The Woodside News.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes. But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the Word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he falls away. (Matthew 13:20-21)