“Like a tree planted by the water”

What’s your favourite natural landmark??

We’ve got a great book at home we read with Norah about Aussie things called ‘This Is My Australia’ – Aussie slang, Aussie foods, man-made landmarks & NATURAL landmarks. We go through and talk about each of the ones we have visited or would like to visit, places like Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, Kangaroo Island, Bondi Beach is in there.

There are many well-travelled people among us, I’m sure some who’ve seen most – if not all – of these landmarks! Internationally as well, so many amazing natural landmarks to see.

One of the most amazing I’ve seen is Milford Sound on the south island of NZ, a beautiful spot you cruise along the water and see rolling mountains on either side, pretty spectacular.

Somewhere else that compares to that is the Scottish highlands, I’ve been lucky enough to cruise through that part of the world – travelling around the country in a day just about – going from Edinburgh up to see the Loch Ness monster up there, amazing landscape and scenery.

There is some natural landscape imagery in Jeremiah this morning, more of a low-key image – a very peaceful and calm image of a tree planted by the water… God speaking to Jeremiah here:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 – ‘But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.’

To be ‘like a tree planted by the water’… Nice image isn’t it! Wouldn’t that be nice, what a peaceful, calm, tranquil existence! If only life was more like that, we’d all like to be like that tree wouldn’t we!

This same image is in our psalm today too, Psalm 1 – this tree that ‘yields it fruits in season, whose leaf does not wither.’ We’d like to be like that tree too! Productive, efficient, resilient.

We might get to experience the awe and wonder of the natural landscape around us on holidays and trips to amazing places, and we might have something closer to home that gives you a similar sense of peace and calm – for me it’s looking out at the the tree in the middle of our backyard, a peaceful, grounding and easily accessible sight out the kitchen window.

This image of a tree by the water today is a beautiful image, but there’s a bit more to this passage we need to have a look at to get the full picture… 

Here we also hear about being ‘like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes – they will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.’ Not so good, not so nice! The opposite of peaceful and flourishing. This is the difference between being with God and being without him, polar opposites here.

And lastly we also hear about the condition of the human heart, how God handles our hearts that are ‘deceitful’ and ‘beyond cure.’ 

Might sound a bit concerning for us there, what does this all mean??

Let’s start with the first image this passage gives us, this image of a ‘bush in the wastelands:’

Evie and I are watching a show at the moment called ‘Paradise,’ where the unthinkable has happened and now everyone lives underground in a ‘paradise’…

They live underground now because they can’t live out in the natural world above anymore, it’s not habitable. They do everything they can – they have a giant lamp to act like the sun which they dim on and off each day and night – to try to emulate normal life, to try to forget that their home now is not earth but a cave underground…

So up in the wasteland above, this is now where there are only ‘bushes in wastelands’ – what a sad, lonely, desolate image this is, the image of a bush in a wasteland.

And what else do we read in Jeremiah about this wasteland bush, contrasted with the tree planted by the water?

It’s ‘cursed,’ but why? Because it drew ‘strength from mere flesh,’ with a ‘heart turned away from the Lord.’ A person like this won’t get to see ‘prosperity when it comes,’ dwelling only in the ‘parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.’ Not good. Not where anyone would want to be. Severe consequences, punishment for this person like a bush in a wasteland, one who has trusted in flesh and turned away from God.

Back to the nice, happy image of ‘A TREE PLANTED BY THE WATER!’

The way we find a moment of peace or calm when we look at something we admire in the natural landscape around us is really interesting… We might only really notice that, really look for that not just on a regular day but only when we really need it…

One of the most challenging parts of being a pastor for me – so far – is doing funerals. This is difficult stuff, very difficult for loved ones and families. People experiencing complex emotions like grief and loss among other things too, often significant efforts by the family to manage everything that comes with it while also feeling all of this at the same time – intense. 

But what I keep coming back to in the midst of these times, is always Psalm 23. And what’s the image there? Green pastures, quiet waters. Even in the darkest valley we hear about green pastures and quiet waters, we hear about God’s goodness and love that follows us all the days our life.

This image from Jeremiah is cut from the same cloth isn’t it, a tree planted by the water that has green leaves and bears fruit.

I wonder what that’s like for you, where do you go in tough times, what helps you through a difficult day or a tough situation? Those special moments and places can be absolute gifts from God in tough times can’t they.

The other image here is where we feel all these things, where they come to rest: the human heart, we read ‘THE LORD SEARCHES THE HEART.’

God says he understands our hearts, he knows us deep in our core, and there are consequences to our actions, there are ‘rewards for conduct and deeds,’ ‘according to what we deserve.’ What are those consequences? We deserve eternal punishment. We deserve to be set on the path of the bush in the wasteland. The consequence of sin, of trusting in ourselves and other things above God, the cost of turning away from God.

Our hearts are deceitful – we all find ways to deceive others, to lie, to bend or to leave out the truth (one of the most common ways we sin against God, against each other isn’t it). And this punishment needs to happen, God’s not letting this go.

It’s not looking too good for us is it!

We’re in serious trouble, all of us. We’ve all turned away from God, served our own selfish interests, prioritized ourselves above our God, above other people.

But we know what happens next, a bit down the track from Jeremiah’s day, but it happens – someone else comes along, and that someone takes all the punishment we deserve on himself. 

He dies in our place, he dies for us. 

God’s punishment IS handed out, but we are spared because his son takes it on himself. Ultimate sacrifice, selflessness, generosity in giving up his life for us. There is no chance for us until Jesus comes along, we have no hope without him. 

Only then do we get back to the beautiful, comforting image of the tree planted by the water. 

That’s what we have, that’s what life can be like with Jesus, as receiving of and living in what he’s done for us. This is not only an image to aspire to – we’d all like to be evergreen trees that have no worries and never fail! – It’s not only that, more importantly it’s an image of who Jesus is.

He is evergreen, he never fails, HE CAN TURN A BUSH IN A WASTELAND INTO A TREE PLANTED BY THE WATER.

As his people we are called to put our trust and our confidence in him, not in worldly things, not in other things but in our God, who says those who trust and hope in him in are blessed.

Not cursed, but blessed.

Not turning away from but turning towards God.

Not stuck in ‘a salt land where no one lives!’

Not a bush in the wastelands, but a tree planted by the water.

So as church we see this image today as who we are called to be, because of who gives us this call in the first place.

We’re called to live in these blessings, of:

• Receiving and living in the gifts God gives us of natural peace and beauty in the world around us,
• The joys of connection in community with each other as fruits of this tree, connected and anchored to him in all we do.
• And looking outwards, to seek those on the edge or on the outside of the four walls of our church, that this growth would extend out there into the world around us > the Holy Spirit calls us to go there as people who are equipped and empowered by God’s word, and he goes with us, helps us on the way, and even does the work we can’t do.
• The tree by the water has blessings to give the bush in the wasteland! There is blessing in the opportunity to serve and love others. We have all been – we all are – that bush in the wasteland, that’s all we would ever be without Jesus.

So let’s thank God now for his work in us, and ask for his help as we seek to live out the blessings he gives us.

Heavenly Father we thank you for the hope we have in you, that by your saving grace we can go from being wasteland bushes to being trees planted by the water. Help us to trust in you and put our confidence in you, and guard our hearts and minds in the safety and security of your evergreen, ongoing love for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.