BE ROOTED IN THE WORD OF GOD

BE ROOTED IN THE WORD OF GOD!

I am a gardener of sorts and I have all kinds of plants in my garden. Most of them are containerised and they are doing very well. Last week, one of my fruit trees was falling out of its container (it had grown much bigger than the original container it came in) and I knew if left unattended it would fall accross the path way and be severely damaged. So I decided to transplant it into a much bigger container. We did this late in the morning. We got fresh soil, put some in the new container making a well in the middle and then gently uprooted the plant from the smaller container (which was already broken); put it in the well and then added more soil and water. And that was that.

However, on my way out in the evening, I walked past the fruit tree and all it’s leaves were limp and droopy. Apparently, the soil we added did not quite cover the whole root and tendrils were sticking out all over the place. Though we were able to arrest a situation that would have deteriorated completely, by covering up the exposed parts of the root, the fact still remained that the fruit tree had been uprooted and then transplanted. We had cut it off it’s supply of nutrients though temporarily.

As all this was going on, the first thing that came to my mind was a scripture about God uprooting anything He had not planted in our lives. “But He answered and said,”Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” Matthew 15:13 NKJV

I understood with every clarity what it meant to have something uprooted. It means that it can never grow again. Anything that has been uprooted has been stripped off whatever feeds it or whatever supplies nourishment to it. It will die. And sometimes the death is immediate and not even a slow lingering process.

Another thought that crossed my mind was that whatever we are rooted in is what will keep us standing firm. That fruit tree had been standing firm and upright until the root became too big for the pot and slowly began to tilt over.

What are you rooted in, dear friend? The best ground to be rooted in is the Word of God. It just does not get better than that. “And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.” Matthew 13:6 KJV Is the sun not up and burning right now? Are these not hard times? Without a root in the Word of God we will simply wither away. It is the root that will hold us down when the storms of life come; and they will. It is that root that will not allow us be swept away by the problems we face. We will face them and we will overcome because we are grounded in the Word that sustains, that nourishes and that enlightens. The Word of God will light our way out of any tunnel, no matter how dark.

As we let our root grow in the Word of God, we must also allow our Father to uproot all those things that quietly and subtly destroy. We must stop feeding them. Let us do less of screen time, (social media, games, movies, gossip columns), let us stop judging others, envyings and pride. All these and many more add no value to us. They do not and will not strengthen us in preparation for stormy weather. The Word of God is a sure anchor.

How great and wonderful it would be for me and you if we could spend more time reading and meditating on the Word of God. That is where we need to be rooted.

NOTHING WILL SHAKE US OR MOVE US, WHEN WE ARE ROOTED IN THE WORD OF GOD. 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©