Trees

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

ephesians 3:14-19 NLT

Now let’s dive into the biblical use and analogy of trees. As we pray for our roots to grow down into God’s love and keep us strong, there is so much richness and significance as we can now view ourselves as trees! And our roots matter because as Beth Moore states, ‘down is the way up with God’!

The Bible Project provides all kinds of valuable content about the biblical theme of tress, and I’m still personally going through it, having a ways to go. I’ve linked a preview above you can watch. I’ve also read great stuff from Beth Moore and John Eldridge. But here are some points so far . . .

• The Hebrew word for ‘tree’ also encompasses what we call a ‘vine’ and a ‘bush’. So when considering the symbolism of trees, you can also group biblical stories involving a burning bush and vines & branches into this theme.
• In the Old Testament, when a tree in mentioned, it signifies God’s desiring to meet with that person and give a blessing.
• The presence of trees in holy places throughout the bible serve as reminders of God’s desire to connect with people in a new Eden.
• When Jesus came to earth, died on a cross (or tree), and rose again, His sacrifice signified a new Eden, a blessing of new life, and God’s desire to personally connect with us.
• Now as Christ makes His home in our hearts as we trust in Him, our physical bodies serve as the temples and trees of His presence. John Eldridge even refers to meeting Jesus in the Eden of our hearts.

For those who enjoy holding a physical posture to represent their spiritual one, join us in tree pose. And invite Christ into the Eden of your heart through praise and worship.