Planted in Fertile Soil Beside Abundant Waters
Ezekiel 17:1-10,18-19
Commentary notes about these verses that “Zedekiah knew not when he was well off, but grew impatient of the disgrace of being a tributary to the king of Babylon, and, to get clear of it, entered into a private league with the king of Egypt.”[1]
The best definition of a "radical" Christian that I once heard was it was someone who was willing to stay planted and rooted exactly where God placed them. Too often Christians run off from church to church looking for something more or better. They are looking to what they can receive rather than what they have to give.
The minute they are offended, they move on. There is always someplace else down the road that promises they will treat them better and will cater to their needs/desires. In the past before the market changed, often people did this with their jobs as well. There is always someplace else that will treat you better and pay you more.
What happens when someone moves every time they are offended or when they look for greener grass on the other side, they develop a self-centered mindset of being catered to. As one makes themselves the center of their world, they begin to think that churches, jobs, etc, are there to cater to them and make them content – fulfilling their needs and desires. They are constantly looking for a better offer around the corner.
While one may move from place to place because they desire to flourish, what really happens is that they whither and become more and more self-centered. A lack of faithfulness produces shallow roots. One is easily moved about, each time it is transplanted, its root system becomes weaker and more fragile.
Commentary notes that it is “the folly of fretful discontented spirits, that ruin themselves by striving to better themselves, whereas they might be easy and happy enough if they would but make the best of that which is.”[2]
It is a deep root system that helps one thrive. When someone is deeply rooted, they are more likely to flourish and are less and less movable. Psalm 1 says blessed is the man who is like a tree planted by streams of water. It yields fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. All that he does prospers. Trees speak of deep roots. Bearing fruit and prospering speaks of having something to contribute and give to others. God plants us not to make our lives easy and convenient, but so that we may be fruitful for His kingdom and benefit others around us.
I have not made it a habit of moving around. I love where I go to church. I have only changed churches once and it was the most difficult move I ever made. While I am grateful for where God has placed me, it was still hard to make the transition.
Also, I have been at my current place of employment for several years and greatly enjoy working there. The only time I moved is when God specifically spoke to me about moving into my current job two years ago.
So what is God speaking to me? I would like to say that He is just not speaking to me. However, what Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:27-28 was "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. One does not need to perform an act to commit sin in ones heart. It is enough that the sinful action is contemplated in ones heart.
Just recently I was struggling with feeling discouraged at church because things seemed too difficult and intimidating. As a result, I began to think about my options for escaping my circumstances. I started remembering the close knit relationships I had at my previous church and began to miss my old friends. I started to wonder what it would be like to keep my current church but also go back to my old church.
For work, I ran into someone I used to work with that reminded me of my past position and mentioned how much previous co-workers said they missed me. This also got me looking back at work.
In Luke 9:62 Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Ouch!! To continue to look back or to even contemplate going back is a sin. Even if I am not acting on my thoughts, it is still just as much a sin to entertain the thoughts. God has specifically planted me in the places that He chose for me. When I look back because life gets tough for me, I am hindering my ability to be rooted where God has placed me.
I am indulging self love that says that life is to revolve around my needs, desires and comfort –I am to be catered to. I am indulging sin by contemplating ways of escaping difficulties that arise.
I love the places God has planted me. The truth is that God has planted me “in fertile soil…beside abundant waters.” I am blessed. God has been incredibly generous with me. He has planted me in places that I can flourish and thrive. He specifically chose them for me.
When I give it any kind of thought, I would never want to go back. I don’t want to live my life around what will bring me the greatest comfort. I also don’t want to live my life around what would bring me the greatest prosperity or success. It would be devastating to get to the end of my life full of regrets because I wasted my life on things which have no real meaning or significance to me.
It is an incredible lack of gratitude and trust in God to look back and contemplate how life could be easier by escaping my current circumstances. The Israelites kept looking back to Egypt after they were led out by Moses. They would have been foolish to go back but their continual contemplation when life became difficult hindered their ability to enter the Promised Land God had for them. Instead, they spent 40 years wondering the wilderness.
Lord, I have sinned greatly. Please forgive me. Thank you for the places you have planted me.
“Jesus, as I lift the cup that is my life and drink it until it’s empty, I need the bread of life and the cup of salvation to nourish me and empower me to live my life, instead of trying to escape from it.”
[1]Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Eze 17:1
[2]Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Eze 17:1
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, propound a riddle and peak a parable to the house of Israel; say, Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, rich in plumage of many colors, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar. He broke of the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants. Then he took the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters. He set it like a willow twig, and it sprouted and became a low spreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs. And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot fort its branches toward him from the bed where it was planted, that he might water it. It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produced branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine. Say, Thus says the Lord God: Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers, so that all its fresh sprouting leaves wither? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it from its roots. Behold, it is planted; will it thrive? Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it –wither away on the bed where it sprouted?”…He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head.
Commentary notes about these verses that “Zedekiah knew not when he was well off, but grew impatient of the disgrace of being a tributary to the king of Babylon, and, to get clear of it, entered into a private league with the king of Egypt.”[1]
The best definition of a "radical" Christian that I once heard was it was someone who was willing to stay planted and rooted exactly where God placed them. Too often Christians run off from church to church looking for something more or better. They are looking to what they can receive rather than what they have to give.
The minute they are offended, they move on. There is always someplace else down the road that promises they will treat them better and will cater to their needs/desires. In the past before the market changed, often people did this with their jobs as well. There is always someplace else that will treat you better and pay you more.
What happens when someone moves every time they are offended or when they look for greener grass on the other side, they develop a self-centered mindset of being catered to. As one makes themselves the center of their world, they begin to think that churches, jobs, etc, are there to cater to them and make them content – fulfilling their needs and desires. They are constantly looking for a better offer around the corner.
While one may move from place to place because they desire to flourish, what really happens is that they whither and become more and more self-centered. A lack of faithfulness produces shallow roots. One is easily moved about, each time it is transplanted, its root system becomes weaker and more fragile.
Commentary notes that it is “the folly of fretful discontented spirits, that ruin themselves by striving to better themselves, whereas they might be easy and happy enough if they would but make the best of that which is.”[2]
It is a deep root system that helps one thrive. When someone is deeply rooted, they are more likely to flourish and are less and less movable. Psalm 1 says blessed is the man who is like a tree planted by streams of water. It yields fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. All that he does prospers. Trees speak of deep roots. Bearing fruit and prospering speaks of having something to contribute and give to others. God plants us not to make our lives easy and convenient, but so that we may be fruitful for His kingdom and benefit others around us.
I have not made it a habit of moving around. I love where I go to church. I have only changed churches once and it was the most difficult move I ever made. While I am grateful for where God has placed me, it was still hard to make the transition.
Also, I have been at my current place of employment for several years and greatly enjoy working there. The only time I moved is when God specifically spoke to me about moving into my current job two years ago.
So what is God speaking to me? I would like to say that He is just not speaking to me. However, what Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:27-28 was "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. One does not need to perform an act to commit sin in ones heart. It is enough that the sinful action is contemplated in ones heart.
Just recently I was struggling with feeling discouraged at church because things seemed too difficult and intimidating. As a result, I began to think about my options for escaping my circumstances. I started remembering the close knit relationships I had at my previous church and began to miss my old friends. I started to wonder what it would be like to keep my current church but also go back to my old church.
For work, I ran into someone I used to work with that reminded me of my past position and mentioned how much previous co-workers said they missed me. This also got me looking back at work.
In Luke 9:62 Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Ouch!! To continue to look back or to even contemplate going back is a sin. Even if I am not acting on my thoughts, it is still just as much a sin to entertain the thoughts. God has specifically planted me in the places that He chose for me. When I look back because life gets tough for me, I am hindering my ability to be rooted where God has placed me.
I am indulging self love that says that life is to revolve around my needs, desires and comfort –I am to be catered to. I am indulging sin by contemplating ways of escaping difficulties that arise.
I love the places God has planted me. The truth is that God has planted me “in fertile soil…beside abundant waters.” I am blessed. God has been incredibly generous with me. He has planted me in places that I can flourish and thrive. He specifically chose them for me.
When I give it any kind of thought, I would never want to go back. I don’t want to live my life around what will bring me the greatest comfort. I also don’t want to live my life around what would bring me the greatest prosperity or success. It would be devastating to get to the end of my life full of regrets because I wasted my life on things which have no real meaning or significance to me.
It is an incredible lack of gratitude and trust in God to look back and contemplate how life could be easier by escaping my current circumstances. The Israelites kept looking back to Egypt after they were led out by Moses. They would have been foolish to go back but their continual contemplation when life became difficult hindered their ability to enter the Promised Land God had for them. Instead, they spent 40 years wondering the wilderness.
Lord, I have sinned greatly. Please forgive me. Thank you for the places you have planted me.
“Jesus, as I lift the cup that is my life and drink it until it’s empty, I need the bread of life and the cup of salvation to nourish me and empower me to live my life, instead of trying to escape from it.”
[1]Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Eze 17:1
[2]Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Eze 17:1
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