Last week we were camping in the mountains, and I came across the most crazy-looking aspen tree. From a distance, it looked completely normal, healthy and thriving. The leaves were green and plentiful, and it was even supporting a smaller aspen growing up with it. I walked right up to the river bank on which it was growing, looked over the edge and was stunned by what I saw. Below the aspen tree, it’s roots were suspended in the air as it grew out of the bank and looked like it was almost floating. I couldn’t understand how it could continue to thrive when the base of it looked so precarious.
Of course, this got me thinking about how this relates to people, because God often teaches me about people through nature. First, we never know what is going on in people’s lives, but we often judge and compare based on the externals. I can’t tell you how many times I have to tell myself how little I know rather than jumping to conclusions about what looks perfect or compare-worthy on the outside. We don’t know what a person’s root system looks like, and sometimes make judgements without understanding.
Second, I know God is teaching me so much about His perspective versus mine when it comes to my circumstances. I look at that tree and tell it that it should probably give up based on the root system being suspended in the air! But it wasn’t, and even more so, it was living as if it was perfectly rooted and supported by the dirt. Yet, based on what I know about aspen tree root systems, it was actually being supported by all the other aspen trees around it by being joined together underground.
So often we forget that the spiritual reality outweighs what looks true in the physical. It may look like you have no strength to do the thing in front of you, but God’s strength can carry you through. It may seem like you have no wisdom for the problem or scenario, but we can ask for Jesus’ wisdom and receive it. It may feel like we have no way out and there’s no hope, but the Holy Spirit restores our hope. I think I want to wait until my circumstances confirm that there should be hope, but then my hope is in the wrong thing. What the world around me looks like is not the deeper truth.
I see testimonies of this when I see someone who has an impossible situation continue to persevere in hope, someone who has chaos and crisis continue to seek out the Prince of Peace for His peace, someone who has physical limitations of all kinds continue to find supernatural strength to deal with pain and frustration. None of this makes sense based on the circumstances, but that’s the Kingdom of God at work. Jesus didn’t bring a kingdom where everything was right with the government or the surroundings of His followers, but rather a way through that gave them freedom no matter what the circumstances.
Freedom doesn’t feel good in the process, I am convinced. When we experience the freedom from needing everything to be going according to our plan, though, we can be truly free. Instead of looking at the giants, the mountains or the armies that stand in our way, we remember that we have a big God standing with us. This changes the perspective entirely.
Whatever problem is feeling insurmountable for you today, remember that the spiritual reality outweighs the physical. Let’s wait for what God is doing, even if it makes no sense to us or takes a lot longer than we had hoped. He is faithful, and will bring the good work in us all the way through to completion, loving us all the way through.
And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. Ephesians 3:16-17