Be a Tree!

Luke 19:9-10

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

         |A few days ago, I got up ready to do my devotional. Lately, my devotional life has not been as strong as I wish, which is why I thank God for the sister I have. She explained the secret to having a powerful devotional each and every morning. She told me to claim Jeremiah 33:3 which says that if we call to God, He will show us great and mighty things which we do not know. So, I did that and asked God to teach me something new, and I thank Him for answering my prayer. I was inspired to read Luke 19:1-10, which is the story of Zacchaeus.

            The story starts off with Zacchaeus having a strong desire to see Jesus. But the only thing that prevented him from doing so was that the crowd was blocking his way, like it says in verse 2 and 3

^“ Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.”

 Now, before I continue, I want to make a small point here. Sometimes, maybe unknowingly, we are blocking the way to Jesus. It is important to ever be on our guard and watch that we do not discourage each other, and that even our actions are always pointing to Jesus, not keeping them away from Him. But Zacchaeus desperately wanted to see Jesus, so he found the solution:

“ ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.”

            In the Bible, many times a righteous person is described as a tree. Like in Psalm 1 it compares a righteous man to a tree:

“Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper”.

-Psalms 1:1-3

 So even if a whole crowd of people are blocking the way to Jesus, just one righteous person can bring them to Christ.

I find it interesting that the Bible says specifically what type of tree Zacchaeus climbed; a sycamore tree. Their common characteristics are that it has a thick trunk, and thick, low branches, perfect for Zacchaeus since the bible says that

“…he was of short stature”.

And just like each tree is different, so each person needs a specific type of “tree” to guide them to Christ. A tall tree with high branches (like the baobab tree,) wouldn't have helped Zacchaeus to see Jesus. He needed a specific tree. In the same way, God made us all different. The talents and gifts that you have might not be the same as my talents and gifts. God made us in a special way, which is why the people you can reach out to may not be the same as the people I can reach. So when we don’t use our gifts, people could be potentially lost because we failed to reach them. 

This story also taught me that if Zacchaeus just gave up when he saw the crowds, he would never have seen Jesus. But I’m sure God saw his persistence and pointed him to the sycamore tree. This story is an encouragement to never give up. Even if it seems that the situation is hopeless and even if the people closest to you say it’s hopeless, turn to Jesus. Seek to find Him, even if it means climbing up a tree. 

Picture  Story:

We used to have a beautiful cheery tree in our back yard, that would give lots of cherries each summer. In the spring when it would blossom, it was a beautiful sight to behold, (too bad we didn't get many pictures of it in the spring time.) It was my favorite tree because it was so easy for me to climb up on, perfect for a short person like me!