Biblical Trees

 

There are many plants mentioned in the Bible. Among those plants are trees. A professor of Tree Biology says that there are 36 trees in the Bible. There are cedars, pines and sycamores. There are trees that grow nuts, dates, figs, applies, olives and bay leaves, the secret ingredient when cooking spaghetti sauce.

In Psalm 1, which we read today, we hear that the person who follows God’s law is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Have you ever thought of yourself as a tree? If you could be a tree, what kind would you choose?

There are many trees on my property: crab apples, locusts, pines, birches and oaks. I don’t think I would be any of those. I would like to be a Giant Redwood. I would be so big that you could drive a car through my trunk!

The Bible says that Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her and hold her tightly (Proverbs 3:18). After the flood, a bird brought Noah the branch of an olive tree. Zacchaeus could not see Jesus as he passed through his town so he climbed a sycamore tree. Once when he could not find fruit on it, Jesus cursed a fig tree and it died. Jesus himself died on a tree. From that tree, Jesus gives us eternal life. So, trees are important to us and to God.

A poet once wrote that a tree looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray. He ended his poem with these words, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” Only God can make a tree, and only God can make you and me. Trees are important to God, but you are even more important.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, bless these and all children. Give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.