This past December my wife, Lisa, and I traveled to Southern Utah to visit several national parks. We marveled at vistas in Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, and Arches; we stood in awe at patterns of red sandstone canyons, beauty in golden sunsets, eeriness of striated hoodoos, and massive stone arches. Additionally, we became acquainted with the Utah juniper and the Fremont cottonwood. The juniper is a desert tree—twisted trunk and often-dead branches struggle to guard moisture for its greenery—finding its home in arid cliff crevices and parched sandy soil; while the cottonwood flourishes on the banks of dry washes and trickling streams.
In Jeremiah 17:5-8, the prophet Jeremiah (650-570 BC) calls the Southern Kingdom of Judah to remember its predisposition for rebellious living and the sins of idolatry, empty religious ritual, and lack of mercy for the marginalized. He warns the people about judgment as he employs a desert metaphor that they will be “like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes” (v. 6). As the Utah juniper strains to survive in the desert, so Jeremiah reminds His people in the 7th century BC and us today that we can choose to live in desert places like the juniper, or flourish as the cottonwood with roots deep into the dry wash and stream bed. The cottonwood does not escape the arid heat of southern Utah but finds its water source deep down in the sandy soil; it flourishes because it is planted in a place where constant moisture can be found.
Jeremiah points to hope in the middle of his sobering words to Judah: “But blessed is the man who trusts … whose confidence is in him … He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream” (vs. 17:7a, 8a). Hope, as we find ourselves planted at the foot of the Cross, drawing from Jesus’ refreshing and sustaining presence in times of “heat” and “drought.”
For reflection:
- Name a “desert” place you may be in at this time. Can you apply Jeremiah’s words of hope to this arid place? Will you ask Him now?
- Is there someone in your sphere of influence with whom can you share the prophet’s words for their encouragement?
by Paul Sinclair
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