Digging Deeper – Fruit in Season

There is a tree that grows in the desert in Israel that is known as the acacia. These are trees with deep roots that grow near desert waterways known as wadis. Most of the time, acacia trees look dead. Anyone passing by would see a lifeless tree, a gnarled stick coming up from the rocks and sand of the desert floor. They can stand seemingly dormant for many years. Then the rains come to the highlands, and water rushes suddenly down the wadi where the tree grows. And it comes to life! Leaves sprout, and the tree that seemed lifeless becomes the picture of health and vigor.

When we read Psalm 1, we might read “bearing fruit each season” as representing a specific cycle of renewal and flourishing. We think of Georgia seasons, with predictable cycles. But for the acacia tree, the season is when the water comes, and that is when God sends the rain. Some acacia trees spend years waiting for the water to flow, and the seeds can wait for centuries.

God’s answers to our prayers will happen “at the proper time.” We like things to happen in our time. If Google gave us answers “at the proper time,” no one would use it. God is not Google. Sometimes we have to wait.

While the tree waits, it sends its roots deeper, because when the water comes, it is often a full-on flood, washing everything in its path away. The deep roots sustain it in the dry times, seeking the water deep beneath the surface. And they anchor it when the rain comes rushing so it can hold its ground.

So while you wait for God’s timing, live out verse 2 of the psalm: “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” Sink your roots deep in God’s word. Those roots will sustain you while you wait for answers from God. And those roots that you sink deep into Scripture will anchor you when God answers.

Take some time today to open up and meditate on God’s word. Sink your roots deep while you wait for God’s season.