I never thought I'd find myself strolling amongst the cedars of Lebanon. Who does? I have to acknowledge; it was a surreal experience that left me humbled. Which is, I'm beginning to think, the very purpose for the existence of these magnificent trees in the first place. I mean, some of them are 2000 years old!
Millennia ago, cedar forests covered the central mountain range of Lebanon, the pocket-sized country squashed between Syria, the Mediterranean Sea and Israel/Palestine that I visited earlier this year. Slowly, over centuries, deforestation took place so that today there are precious few of these Biblical trees left. Happily they enjoy special protection now and there is an active reforestation project in place. If you want to adopt a cedar tree, click here. Why not ask someone to give you a cedar tree for your birthday or you could give everyone in your family a cedar tree for Christmas this year. Its a wonderfully visionary thing to do, don't you think? Akin to naming a star after your first-born.
So..why was it such a privilege to walk amongst the cedars of Lebanon? For one thing, my grandmother had a cedar wood kist in her home and the aromatic fragrance of the Lebanon forests took me straight back there. The wood has natural insect-repelling properties and many people in my grandmother's era kept their linen in cedar wood chests. For another, cedar trees hold a very special significance for Christians. Cedar timber built the temple (1 Kings 7: 2, 3) and God speaks in 'cedar tree metaphors' in many places in the Bible. Having observed these unique trees up close and personal, I'm not surprised at all. We do have a lot to learn from them.
My favourite Scripture verse about the cedars is found in Psalm 92.
"The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age, they shall be full of sap and very green."
How do the cedar trees of Lebanon grow? For every ten feet above the ground, their roots go down thirty feet. Thirty feet! One of the trees I saw was 6 600 feet tall; that means its roots went down, what, a 198 000 feet!? Nothing's going to shift that tree, short of a nuclear explosion. The cedars are deeply, deeply rooted. How rooted are you? Do you trust the Lord no matter what? Are you ever to be found in the 'courts of our God', worshipping, entering in to the Spirit? Are you 'planted', as the Psalm says, in the 'house of the Lord', immersed in the life of the church, concerning yourself with the things of the Lord, not the things of the world? If you are, the Psalm promises that you will be 'full of sap and very green'. Indeed, the cedars of Lebanon are evergreen trees. They stand as constant beacons, in season and out of season. If you're not, you may be wondering why you feel so dry, so lifeless, so brittle. The solution lies in emulating the cedar tree, planting and rooting yourself through worship and whole-hearted immersion.
Psalm 92 also says that the one who is rooted will 'still yield fruit in old age'. Its quite something to be dwarfed by a 1000-year old tree that still looks robust and virile and yet that exudes a tremendous sense of experience and antiquity. Men have come and gone - nations, empires - but this humble tree has withstood them all.
Let's face it, if you're going to be a tree, this is the tree to be.
 |
| For more than 1000 years this tree has been growing and growing..and it still is. Can't believe I'm standing there, in its shadow. |
So..why was it such a privilege to walk amongst the cedars of Lebanon? For one thing, my grandmother had a cedar wood kist in her home and the aromatic fragrance of the Lebanon forests took me straight back there. The wood has natural insect-repelling properties and many people in my grandmother's era kept their linen in cedar wood chests. For another, cedar trees hold a very special significance for Christians. Cedar timber built the temple (1 Kings 7: 2, 3) and God speaks in 'cedar tree metaphors' in many places in the Bible. Having observed these unique trees up close and personal, I'm not surprised at all. We do have a lot to learn from them.
 |
| I love this romantic old depiction of Psalm 1, don't you? |
My favourite Scripture verse about the cedars is found in Psalm 92.
"The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age, they shall be full of sap and very green."
How do the cedar trees of Lebanon grow? For every ten feet above the ground, their roots go down thirty feet. Thirty feet! One of the trees I saw was 6 600 feet tall; that means its roots went down, what, a 198 000 feet!? Nothing's going to shift that tree, short of a nuclear explosion. The cedars are deeply, deeply rooted. How rooted are you? Do you trust the Lord no matter what? Are you ever to be found in the 'courts of our God', worshipping, entering in to the Spirit? Are you 'planted', as the Psalm says, in the 'house of the Lord', immersed in the life of the church, concerning yourself with the things of the Lord, not the things of the world? If you are, the Psalm promises that you will be 'full of sap and very green'. Indeed, the cedars of Lebanon are evergreen trees. They stand as constant beacons, in season and out of season. If you're not, you may be wondering why you feel so dry, so lifeless, so brittle. The solution lies in emulating the cedar tree, planting and rooting yourself through worship and whole-hearted immersion.
Psalm 92 also says that the one who is rooted will 'still yield fruit in old age'. Its quite something to be dwarfed by a 1000-year old tree that still looks robust and virile and yet that exudes a tremendous sense of experience and antiquity. Men have come and gone - nations, empires - but this humble tree has withstood them all.
Let's face it, if you're going to be a tree, this is the tree to be.
