“…in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season…”

— Psalm 1:2-3

The godly man is described in Psalm 1 as one who loves the Word of the Lord and ruminates on it in the morning and in the evening. By being so grounded in the Scriptures, he becomes like a tree with deep roots. But many people do not have deep roots, and so they hardly grow.

The Japanese have a way of taking what ordinarily are large trees and reducing them into tiny little trees and the way they do that is, first of all, cutting off the tap root. Those trees then are only able to use the surface roots, the smaller surface roots of the plant; and so the tree just doesn’t grow very much.

And that is the way it is with most people in this world. Their tap root does not go down deep into the Word of God, and so all they have for nourishment are those surface roots that are sucking up the things of this world. Consequently their spiritual growth is badly stunted and they will never show spiritual depth. They will never persevere unto the end and be saved. They will never be like Martin Luther, who could stand before the Diet of Worms and say, “Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me.” Therefore, he would not recant anything. Spending quality time in the meditation of the Bible is the key to true spiritual depth.

Lord of the Vineyard, thank You for cultivating and fertilizing and digging around me. Let my roots grow deep past the top soil and down to the nourishing rich soil of Your Word…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, OUR
ROOTS CAN GROW STRONG.