Way before…a tree was planted.

This week I came across this thought: “Way before Zaccheus wanted to see Jesus, a tree was planted to meet his needs.”

Way before…..a tree was planted.

I find myself thinking of obedience when I read this. The 2 sides of obedience. The blind faith side and the never-knowing side.

The blind faith side is the acting option. Think for a moment of the tree planting person in this quote. Perhaps they were employed by the village of that time to plant trees. Perhaps they were a landowner and this section of the village formed part of their land. Either way, if the employee hadn’t obeyed an instruction to plant the tree there, or if the landowner hadn’t obeyed the desire to plant the tree there, the tree wouldn’t have been there.

The other side is the never-knowing. Were either of these two categories of people around when Zaccheus made use of the tree – we don’t know. Do they know the life-changing moment that their tree initiated- we don’t know. We just know that way before Zaccheus wanted to see Jesus this tree was planted.

Lysa Terkeurst wrote: “I believe the creator of all, who does everything with purpose, chose to be in the shade and shadow of the olive trees often. And possibly didn’t just choose to be among olive trees in His darkest hour, but might He have actually created them for such a time as this?”

Jesus is intentional and does everything with purpose, however, there are times in our lives (most of them) when we are not quite sure what His plans for us are or where the path He has placed us on is leading to. It’s especially in these times when we need to blindly obey Him and His word. To doggedly trust His promises to us and to hold onto Him with everything! It’s also in the moments of blind obedience to carry out the fairly simple task of planting a tree in a specific spot at a specific time, so that the Zaccheus’s can make use of it in the future. We may never see or know the fruit of our obedience, but it is always worth it!

At the moment I find myself in a space of change. My husband and I have taken a step back from the roles we have fulfilled in church leadership and are choosing to dwell in the relationship we have with Jesus. Blindly following Him as He leads and guides us into the future He has planned for us. I am trusting that along this journey we will be obedient to plant trees and also, that when we need it the tree will already be there.