I’ve always enjoyed listening to good stories – and also telling them. Especially satisfying are stories with a good conclusion, jokes with a good punch line, or a mystery story with an ending you didn’t see coming! I also enjoy a compelling explanation which helps me to understand something better.
For example, I remember when my family took my sister to Baltimore for her college semester there. We went to the harbor to see some of the ships. I recall standing on a very long dock, looking along the side of a ship so huge that the side of it curved out of sight far into the distance. The ship was massive, yet it just sat in the water motionless, only a foot or so from the wharf.
Amazed, I reached out to touch this monstrosity, enamored with it. Then I heard my father yell “Geet back from there!” Coming over to me, he said, “If a wave would come and rock that ship, it could crush you like nothing!”
That experience is a very vivid memory for me. Moreover, the Lord used it to teach me something about himself. When Jesus described His own heart in Mathew 11.29, He said He was gentle and humble. Yet he had power to perform miracles, to heal, to raise people from the dead.
It was quite a paradox – this gentle person filled with immense power was so under control of it that those around him weren’t aware of it. So, I could say, “Jesus is like a great ship, moored at the wharf in calm waters.”
That phrase, “It is like…” is used many times in Scripture, whether in proverbs, psalms, or parables. Everyday experiences or common features of nature are used to explain something spiritual. Here, in upcoming devotionals, a few of these will be discussed, especially involving the growth and care of plants.
(Hint: some key words will include soil, water, light, grafting, fruit, harvest, dormancy)
“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1.3)
Want to discover more about who and what?
Click here to read the entire Psalm to find out!
