Thoughts: Hannah's Blog

Recently went on a trip to Mangalore. While returning, came through a mountain terrain and for a while, we were traveling parallel to a stream. The water so clear and there were rocks here and there, over which the stream traveled up and down and it was surrounded by trees: so greenish and fresh (despite being autumn season), the scene was a refreshing sight! It reminded me of the usual comparison of “a tree planted by streams of water” in the Bible. The well known verses being the beginning of the book of Psalms:

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers. – Psalm 1:3

The other instance where this comparison comes up is found in Jeremiah (there may be more, but this was what I could recollect)

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. – Jeremiah 17: 8

In both places the common themes are: streams of water; leaf – that is always green and does not wither; fruits – that yield in season. Because the tree sends out it’s roots by the stream, it gets it’s required water and nourishment and it grows up to be a healthy, fruit-bearing tree. Even when the heat comes, even in a year of drought, it does not fear or worry.

So who is “That person” and “They” referred to here? For that we need to look at the previous verses in context. In Psalms, it is the person who does not walk in the counsel of wicked, or stand in way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. In Jeremiah, it is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.

Now, who is this stream of water? A few verses down the same chapter 13 in Jeremiah (verse 13) we find that the Lord is the spring of living water. In the new testament, John chapter 4, when Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman, he mentions “If you knew… who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” and again in Chapter 7 verse 37, he calls out saying “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink…” He is the source of life. He is the living water! In Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22 we read about the river of life that flows from the throne of God. Wherever the river flows, there is life. On the banks of the river, there are trees whose leaves does not wither but bring healing, they bear fruits every month.

Do we want to be like those trees that will bear fruit and not wither away even when the drought comes? Then let us heed to God’s call to abide with him, to be rooted in him, stay close to the streams of living water. Let us not place our confidence in man and try to build our own broken cisterns; but hold on to him, the spring of living water.

My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. – Jeremiah 2:13