Are YOU Like a Live Oak, or Like a Water Oak?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

If you’ve lived in Florida very long, you are probably familiar with the Water Oak.  They’re everywhere around here.  And they can be beautiful trees that provide both shade and habitat.  They grow up very tall, and then outward with wide, green canopies.   They have the appearance of strength.

It’s also likely that you have noticed that these same trees fall over onto someone’s house, or across some road somewhere every time a strong storm comes through. Their appearance conceals their frailty.

This is because their root systems are shallow, and prone to rot and damage.  Once they reach their maximum height, the first strong winds can knock them over like a domino. Both droughts and floods kill them easily. They may look strong, but their roots actually make them weak.

But unless it is a very strong storm, like a tornado, or a very significant hurricane, you rarely see toppled Live Oaks.  They have broad, strong, root systems that anchor them to the ground, resist the rot-effects of flooding, and gather nutrients, even during periods of drought.

In Jeremiah 17:7-8, the bible compares a person who places his trust in God to a tree that has strong roots growing toward streams of water.  That tree is always green, always strong, and always produces fruit.  Psalm 1:3 paints the very same picture.

In contrast, Jeremiah 17:5-6, and Psalm 1:4 teach that men who associate with the Godless, or put trust in their own strength, are like shrubs in a desert, or like worthless chaff that the wind easily blows away.

When we let distractions, fears, emotions, feelings, situations and circumstances dictate how we behave, or when we think we can handle the world without God, then our root systems become a bit like that Water Oak’s, and we are prone to fall across the road, or onto someone’s house.  But when we place real faith and trust in what God has promised, and who He is, then our root systems become broad, strong, and productive, like the Live Oaks.  And we can withstand even terrible storms!