It was dark outside. I sat in a room on the 2nd story of a building with my teammate, and we were talking to a handful of Vietnamese people. We had been hearing the thunder rolling in from a far-off distance, but we hadn’t thought much about it; besides, it was rainy season in Southeast Asia. It’s not uncommon to see rain almost every day. However, within ten minutes, a massive storm had rolled over us. The lights in our room flickered, and bolts of lightning lit up the night sky outside as they danced to an ominous melody of boom, boom, BOOM in the background. The rain pounded on the roof, and the wind was out of control. I laughed—part of me was trying to lighten the mood, but another part of me was tinged with fear—as I joked, “hey guys, it’s a hurricane!”
When the violent storm calmed down, my teammate and I walked back to our hotel. We were downright caught off-guard by what we saw: throughout the park in the neighborhood, multiple trees were completely ripped out of the ground. And these trees weren’t the little baby trees that had just left the nursery; they were massive trees—the biggest ones in the park. They were probably over 40 years old, and they were lying on their sides with their roots exposed to the dewy air. When we walked past the first tree we saw like this, we were shocked… “How on earth did the wind from the storm rip this huge tree out of the ground?” But as we continued our walk, we noticed that tree after tree had been completely uprooted like this. It made absolutely no sense to us; yes, the storm had been bad—but it wasn’t actually a hurricane like I joked about.
It turns out that this is not an unusual occurrence here. You see, the roots of these trees are unable to grow deep because of the high percentage of sand in the soil. So, these large and majestic trees are actually holding themselves up by an insufficient root system; one that is definitely not equipped to handle the monsoon season here in Vietnam.
So, what is done with these trees after they have been uprooted? They are simply propped back up into place. This sounds like a system for continual failure, doesn’t it? Every time a storm with strong winds rolls over the neighborhood, the cycle of being uprooted and re-planted will continue for the tired trees.
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about seeds falling among four different types of soil. In one of the examples, a seed falls among a rocky place without much soil. The seed grows quickly, but it withers away when the sun beats down on it because its roots are not deep enough to reach water. Jesus explains that “The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes… they quickly fall away” (v. 20-21).
As Christians, we must fight against being the seed that falls among a rocky place, grows quickly, and withers when trials come along. I know that I’ve definitely been that seed before; I was attending church every Sunday, and sometimes I’d even go to a small group during the weekdays when I felt like it. I was making more and more friends within the church, and I thought that I had become a part of the “cool community”. I felt like I belonged. I was talking the talk, but I quickly learned that I was not walking the walk. When a massive storm came into my life and I found myself without a strong foundation to rely on, I realized that my roots weren’t as deep as I thought they were. My life spun out of control, and I had to start over as a seed… but this time, I made sure to be planted in a different type of soil.
Jesus continues the parable to explain about a seed that falls among good soil. This seed was able to produce an entire croup, a hundred times more than itself! Jesus says that “The seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it” (v. 23b).
I had to do a major reality-check when my miniscule roots were exposed, and I realized that even though I had seemed to be doing all of the right things, my heart wasn’t in the right place. I hardly even had a personal relationship with Jesus at that time, so it’s no wonder that I couldn’t actually soak in any of the “nutrients” that I was being fed in church, small group, and my new community. And at the present moment, I’m more of a baby oak than an old oak, but as I press further and deeper into my relationship with Jesus, my foundation grows stronger and I’m able to withstand the storms that come my way.
Friends, I challenge you to be the seed that falls among the good soil. Don’t make the same mistake I made and fall among a rocky place—just like the trees that looked old and wise, you might think that you are living a righteous life, attending church on Sunday, and popping into your small group when you feel like it. You might seem to be mature in your faith, but how deep are your roots? Are you producing a crop that is 5, 20, or even 100 times where you began, or are you uprooted every time a thunderstorm of events occurs in your life? Break the exhausting cycle of needing to be re-planted with your shallow roots every time you fall over. Surrender your heart to Jesus and let Him take you to the good soil. It’s a wonderful place to be.
“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” Isaiah 61:3
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