PALMS, CEDARS, AND DEAD TREES

What happens to faith when tragedy strikes? Strangely, nothing happens to it; it is simply revealed for what it is. Trials, like temptations, expose for all the world to see, including ourselves, just how much or how little faith we have. Today, Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor sentenced to hang for refusing to recant his faith in Christ, will face the ultimate test. I, like many all over the world, am praying that Iran will release him. But are we praying according to God's will? To be quite honest, I don't know. I think we should be praying that the Lord will give Youcef the faith he needs, regardless of his circumstances. May his life, and his death if need be, bring many to faith in Christ, and much glory to the Father. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The character of a believer has been pictured as being like a tree. The psalmist wrote, “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon" (Ps. 92:12). As I interpret this verse, I think of a new believer being like a palm tree. He is righteous because he is deeply rooted in Christ. But, because he is a babe in Christ, still being nourished by "the milk of the Word" (1 Pet. 2:2), Satan throws all that he has against him. And, being like a palm tree, he is able to bend and not be broken. Paul, in describing this, wrote, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph. 4:14).

I interpret the cedar tree to represent a mature believer, strong, and again righteous due to deep roots in Christ. Cedar wood is soft, pliable, aromatic, and beautiful. It was used in the building of Solomon's Temple, and the Church is described as a temple (2 Sam. 7:7; 1 Kgs. 5:6; Eph. 2:19-22). The mature believer is made soft by God (Job 23:16). Those who have graduated to eating "meat" (Heb. 5:14), do not bend in the face of strong opposition, but are pliable only in the hands of the Lord (1 Cor. 16:13). To God, we are a sweet smell (Phil. 4:18), and beautiful in our sharing of His Gospel (Rom. 10:15).

Unlike the cedars and the palms which are useful unto the Lord, there are "dead trees" which are only good for firewood and for an example of the ungodly. The unrighteous speak words of death and produce no new life. Jude wrote, "...trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots" to describe them (Jude 1:12). Jesus said that trees which produced no fruit were suitable only for being burned (Matt. 3:10; 7:19; 21:19). And isn't it ironic that when Judas hung himself on a tree, it being dead, broke, and he plummeted to his death (Matt. 27:5; Acts 1:18)?

Then, of course, there is the "tree" upon which the Son of God willingly sacrificed His life for us. In five verses, the word translated "cross," is actually from the Greek ξύλον meaning "wood" (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24). "Wood" is another word for "lumber." That means it is no longer living: it is from a dead tree. It was at the Cross of Christ that there were "palms" (those who ran away), "cedars" (those who stood by Him at the foot of the cross), and the dead trees (those who rejected Christ and their instrument of His death).

What kind of tree are you?