Lessons from a Palm Tree

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree . . ." Psalm 92:12

How meaningless this statement is by the psalmist, unless you are aquatinted with the palm trees. People who live in topical and semi-tropical areas are so familiar with their graceful towering beautify, they are a very common tree to them. But I am sure that few realize that meanings the characteristics of this stately tree have. The first simile is life. The life of the tree comes through it's center or heart. Just as all the other trees, it draws its moisture up through its roots from the earth. But instead of the sap going up on the outside between the bark and the wood of the tree, and so on up into the branches and twigs, as is true in most other trees, in the palm tree the sap goes up the very heart of the tree. Most trees can be killed by simply severing the bark completely around the tree about an inch or two. The life of the palm however, does not lie so close under the surface, and is not affected by surface injury. It must be completely cut off to be killed.

The same applies to "Palm-tree Christians." The Word of God states this so aptly in Romans 10:10, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." A "Palm-tree Christian" is not affected by outward environment, but draws his life and strength though the heart.

The palm tree is perennially green. Life flows within its being continually. Those who are considered "Palm-tree Christians" never change. They are the same vibrant witnesses of God's grace day in and day out, because Jesus Christ Himself is "the same yesterday, today, and forever."

It is impossible to graft a palm tree into another palm tree. It will die. This is a unique characteristic for "Palm-tree Christians" as well. "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). There is but one God and Him only shalt thou serve. - Streams in the Desert, Vol. 2

I like how this ties into the verse that I came across this morning, "Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 15:16. My study notes say, "I digested them, I assimilated them, I made them a part of me."

Lessons from the Palm tree:

1. Eat or digest the Word regularly. The palm tree relies on it's heart to keep it alive. And by doing so it relies upon the food it digests so that it can keep it's heart healthy and therefore itself healthy. We must digest the Word in order to assimilate it into our lives and keep us alive.

2. Don't rely on outside sources to nourish you. The palm tree doesn't gain it's strength from what goes up it on the outside it draws strength from the inside out. We too need to digest the Word of God and not from outward sources that are not of the Lord. We need to glorify the Lord from the inside out.

3. The palm tree is not affected from outward environment. Like the palm tree, our strength and life comes from the Word of God and when we digest it regularly it seeps deep into our heart and therefore a great source of strength. When trials try to cut into our lives we will no be moved. Why? Because our source of strength and who we are doesn't lie on the surface but deep within.

I pray that we can become "Palm-tree Christians". To digest God's Word on a daily basis so we are properly feed and filled with strength so that when those winds of trials try to blow us over we will not be moved!

Krista Jones
8.16.08

Beginning to End: Isaiah 59-63
Old and New Testaments Together: Psalm 79-80 & Romans 11:1-18
Historical: Job 17-20
Chronological: Jeremiah 10-13
Blended: Psalm 79-80 & Acts 28

The Bible reading guides will be taken from Back to the Bible