The Root of the Issue

Nº 196 weekly devotions to refresh your soul by Dr. Dan Bolin - May 3, 2022

Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness. - Helen Keller

Years ago, a storm ripped through East Texas. The next morning several large limbs cluttered my yard along with one medium-sized uprooted elm tree. The limbs made a great burn pile, and my chainsaw and I recycled the elm tree into firewood.

It wasn’t hard to notice the elm’s small, shallow root system, just a few stubby nodes and nothing that resembled a taproot. The elm lacked the strength and stability needed to withstand the powerful wind.

Psalm 1 provides a graphic picture of spiritual stability: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” (Psalm 1:3) Verse four talks about winds that blow through our lives. Healthy trees, those with good root systems, bend in the wind but don’t break.

How does a root system grow? The previous verse holds the key. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

Feed your spiritual root system; delight and meditate on God’s Word throughout your day. Gain the spiritual strength and stability that will prepare you for the next storm that will surely blow into your life.

Dan Bolin President Refueling in Flight Ministries, Inc