Prayer: Thank You for the Trees

Father, thank you for being so mindful and intentional in the way you communicate with your people. You are so sovereign and filled with such complexity and depth. We could never retain or understand the fullness of Your wisdom. Yet, You choose to speak to us in ways that make sense to our hearts and minds, but at the same time Your words are filled with such beautiful imagery and creativity that we still find ourselves in awe of Your wonders. When you describe the righteous person, You say that he is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season (Psalms 1:3). Again you say, the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life (Proverbs 11:30). Do we ever pause to consider the trees? Trees cover the landscape, at least where I live. They are so prevalent and seem ordinary to the passerby, but that couldn’t be further from Your glorious truth.

Trees serve a multitude of purposes and therefore display Your glory all the more richly. Trees provide safe haven and habitat to a diverse congregation of wild creatures. Trees produce fruits filled with sweet and savory goodness that bring wonderful satisfaction to those who enjoy them. Through miraculous wonders, trees help create the very oxygen that we take in and in doing so, they give life to our bodies. There are oaks, maples, beech (my favorite), and a whole host of evergreens. Some with towering canopies and others with branches so heavy they arch towards the ground beneath. Trees play no small role in the lives of Your creation. As hunters, they provide space to pursue wild game, all while going undetected. They also produce food for our families, homes for our communities, and the paper on which Your word is read. It's no wonder why You choose to illustrate righteousness as a flourishing and healthy tree. Is there a better parallel than the one between a man made right with God and a rooted sapling that grows into a mighty oak?

When Your prophet Elijah fled for his life into the desert, You provided rest beneath a broom tree (1 Kings 19:5). When the tax collector, Zacchaeus, longed to see Jesus, but was unable due to the crowds, he climbed a sycamore tree to gaze upon the savior’s face (Luke 19:4). When your Son rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey the crowds cut branches from the trees and laid them on the ground before him (Matthew 21:8). Trees display Your glory with every passing breeze. They enable us to meet You in spaces that we might not otherwise find You. That must explain the connection I feel with You, while perched among the branches with attentive ears, listening for deer and spiritual direction. Like the roots that keep these mighty specimens anchored, let Your word anchor my heart to Yours.

Perhaps the greatest display of a tree fulfilling its ultimate purpose was the one that Your Son was nailed to. Indeed, cursed is he who hangs on a tree (Galatians 3:13). It was not his guilt, but that which came from me. That is what held him there. He completed once for all what we could never. Sin was removed. Righteousness was given. Grace was granted. Faith was restored. All because of a tree and the man who did not shy away from it. To Him be all glory and honor. Thank You Lord for trees and the amazing work accomplished through them. Help us to never pass another without hearing it sing your praise!

Amen.