Submitted by Pastor Richard Boettner, Rock Port Baptist Church

As I am writing this week a holiday will be coming this Friday, April 26, which is our annual observance of Arbor Day. For us in Atchison County the history of Arbor Day originated close by in Nebraska City, Nebraska, with about 1 million trees planted in the State of Nebraska in 1872. The Federal government has chosen the last Friday of April since 1907 to be recognized as Arbor Day.

While often noted as a secular (not a church) holiday with natural origins, Arbor Day has caused me to think about trees and how they point us to greater spiritual truth. In doing so, we can recognize God at work in our lives, in both ordinary and unusual life circumstances. We can study trees in Scripture, and learn important life principles and applications which will still work in today’s world.

1) A tree is a symbol of a godly life, well placed, useful, and fruitful in service. Note Psalm 1 which describes a godly or righteous person as being “like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

2) A tree can be a mark of God’s leading. For Abram, who was called to go by faith to a place he did not know (Genesis 12), he encounters the “oak of Moreh” where God appears to him and instructs him to build an altar in that place. Later his grandson Jacob, an heir to God’s promise, also experiences God in the same place and the oak tree is also mentioned as God’s blessing. (see Genesis 35).

3) A tree is also a mark of God’s faithfulness. In Isaiah 41:19 we see several trees mentioned: “I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together in the desert, so that all may see and know, consider, and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” The variety of trees suggest a variety of purpose, but God working and providing in everything, even when life is like a dry desert.

4) A tree gives us a primitive picture of our home, a place of safety and refuge. Consider Micah 4:4: “Each person will sit under his grapevine and under his fig tree with no one to frighten him.”

5) A tree is also the final place of eternal provision in heaven. Consider Revelation 22:2,3: “The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse.”

As we consider this tree of life for today, I invite you to be like a tree and plant yourself near God’s river of life, which is Jesus Christ. When you believe in Him, your inner person will always be renewed and enriched. Consider John 4:14: “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

Thanks for reading and studying with me for the OTSS column. Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions at rockportbaptistchurch.com.