Bringing Down the Mighty Sequoia
If there was ever a David and Goliath battle, this is it. A pinhead-sized beetle, no more than a couple of millimetres long, versus a giant sequoia tree, taller than a football field and older than the Bible. And the tiny beetle, well, swarming armies of beetles, are winning. — Mark Saunokonoko, Senior Journalist, reporting for 9News.
And now, on the Western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a giant Sequoia — one of many — lies rotting.
It was a growing sapling when Christ walked the shores of Galilee. When Columbus discovered America, it was reaching maturity, and it looked down from lofty heights during the American Civil War. It seemed destined to live many centuries more.
Then, a few years ago, a tiny beetle started to burrow into its bark and lay eggs that would produce other beetles. It seemed like an unequal battle at first, but the few beetles multiplied into hundreds, then into thousands, and finally into millions. First they attacked the bark, then they worked deeper into the trunk, and finally, they were eating the very heart and strength of that magnificent forest giant.
Then one day, after withstanding the elements for centuries, the rain came, the winds blew, the lightning flashed, and the giant tree fell. Not because of the elements, but because of the weakening effects of those tiny beetles. — Author Unknown
"The beetles," Saunokonoko continues, "Phloeosinus punctatus, bury inside the bark of the sequoias, eating the giants from the inside out, until they topple over and fall to the forest floor."
Click into the article here to watch a video about the plight of the mighty Sequoias.
Bad habits do the same thing to people. They slowly take a toll, eating away at our hearts, our souls, our integrity, from the inside out, until the day comes when a person's life comes crashing down, just like those majestic Sequoia trees.
"But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:14-15, ESV).
"You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'—but not everything is good for you. You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'—but not everything is beneficial" (1 Corinthians 10:23, NLT).
Daddy, Can We Get A Puppy?
If you are a parent, you’ve heard these words before: “Mommy, Daddy, can we get a puppy?” And, if you are smart, you responded with the following: “You know puppies are a lot of trouble. You would have to walk it at least three times a day and make sure it is fed. You would have to bathe it at least twice a week and brush it every day. You would also have to train it and take it outside to use the bathroom. And if it ever poo-poo’s or tee-tee’s in the house, it would be your responsibility to clean it up.”
Although the above lecture is normally used as a doggie deterrent, most children respond by saying, “I don’t care. I wouldn’t mind doing all that as long as I had a puppy!” So we break down and buy the puppy, and a month later we are stuck feeding, walking and cleaning up after it. The exasperated child says, “I just didn’t know how much work it would be!”
In chapter 8 of I Samuel, we find an aging Samuel and a demanding Israelite nation that was much like a child demanding a puppy of his parents. But instead of a puppy, Israel was demanding a king. Samuel attempted to warn them. Paraphrased, he said, “You know kings are a lot of trouble. He will take your sons and turn them into soldiers. He will take your daughters and make them cook for him. And much of the food they will be cooking will be food he has taken from you. Also, if he wants to, he will take your servants and animals and make them his. He will treat you so badly that it will make you cry out in regret.”
Yet just like a child wanting a puppy, they replied, “We don’t care. We wouldn’t mind all that as long as we had a king.” Although Samuel couldn’t have made it any clearer, they could not see through their own selfishness to the negative result that would come from their request. The fact is that when we are being completely selfish, no amount of good reasoning will help us see things differently. We become blinded by our own desires.
The difficult thing about a heart of selfishness is that it is hard to detect. We think we are being reasonable, justified, or even optimistic, when in reality we are blinded by our own wants.
Unending Wishes
When I was a boy, my family played a wishing game. My dad would ask me and my siblings if given one wish, what would it be? Every time my brother or one of my sisters thought of a better wish than mine, I would change my wish to match theirs. Then one day my dad unplugged all the fun by coming up with what we determined to be the greatest wish ever. He said, "I wish that every wish that I wish would come true."
The unending wish! One wish that grants all other wishes! That would be the greatest wish of all!
Through the years, however, I have contemplated how tragic being granted such a wish could have been. For instance, my fifth grade teacher would have exploded right in front of the whole class! The school bully would have come upon a tragic end to teach all other bullies a lesson. I would have been a murderer . . . a rich, greedy, spoiled murderer.
There is something even better than being granted an unending wish, and it's given to every believer in Christ. It's called the "new birth" and it imparts to us the capacity to actually desire what God desires. To wish what He wishes, and to receive the answer to those wishes forever and ever.
In contrast to the wishes born of our sin nature, the new birth leads to constructive wishes born of the Spirit, and to desires of the heart that result in healthier relationships and happier more meaningful lives. Not an exploding teacher among them!
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1 John 5:14).
Illustration Exchange