Bottled water and Tamarisk trees

Someone asked me recently “What would your life look like if it all just …stopped?” 

By ‘all,’ they were meaning what would happen if your position, responsibility and ‘ministry’ was gone, who would you be? What would you do?

I don’t usually like questions like these, they are not really based on reality or worth speculating on. However the quest to answer ‘What is the point of it all?’ stuck with me, confronted me, intrigued me. 

The pay cheque and position may change, but my purpose doesn’t have to. 

In Genesis 21, we find Abraham in the later years of his great adventure with God. He’s received the son of his promise, he’s passed the test, but what now? He does two things which intrigued me;

He secures the source and plants a tree. 

“He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”” - ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭21‬:‭30‬

“Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.” - ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭21‬:‭33‬

1. Secure the source - no more bottled water.

Abraham prioritised securing the source of water that would sustain him, his family, his flock. Bottled water is great, but it’s here today gone well… in 5-10 minutes! Honestly, I can slip into a bottled water approach to living water. Picking up a bottle at the next conference pit stop… the Sunday service station… the refilling station of someone’s borrowed revelation. There’s nothing wrong with bottled water but I want to secure the source. 

Jesus said this; “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”” - ‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭37‬-‭38‬

I want to make sure my life is thirsty for Jesus alone. Not thirsty for doing something significant, not thirsty for getting the job done but thirsty for him. He’s where the source is. Which means wherever I am, the flow is, not just to my life but from my life! 

Am I going to the source, or am I being sustained by bottled water? 

2. Plant a tree - plant something you’ll never sit under.

It’s interesting that he planted a tamarisk tree;

• survives drought

• sends deep roots into the ground

• provides shade

• tolerates salty soil

• lives for generations

Pretty cool, but of all the things a Tamarisk tree is, the thing that is wild to me is that it grows S L O W L Y. 

Abraham wasn’t sowing with himself in mind (let’s face it, before he even had Issac his wife referred to him as ‘as good as dead’) but he was sowing with eternal significance. I love how Abraham plants a tree and then immediately worships ‘The Eternal God’ (mind officially blown over the Bibles detail here!)

Here’s the challenge that cut me to the core… Do I only sow what I may benefit from, or am I sowing with eternity in mind? How much of what I spend my self on is with eternity in mind? 

Secure the source, plant a tree. 

Ps Lisa Daniels