As I was recently in Hawaii I awoke each day to wind swaying palm trees. As I looked at this tropical paradise I saw how the believer is to be like a Hawaiian palm tree.
The fruit-bearing palms in Hawaii have a band of metal around them about 15-20 feet up the tree. It's a piece of aluminum about 18 inches wide that goes all the way around the tree. What is it for? Why this ugly piece of metal? It's a rat guard. If a rat tries to climb that tree it can only get as high as the guard then its claws can not dig into the metal and he slips down. The guard keeps the rat from getting the fruit.
As I pondered that, what a vivid example for the believer in Jesus Christ. There are rats in this world that want to rob your fruit, the rat of bitterness, the rat of temptation and the rat of sin. So, like a palm tree there should be a protective band around the believers life to keep those pesky rats from getting to the fruit.
Isaiah the prophet spoke about Jesus and his ministry, and how he came to make the believer into a fruitful tree.
Isaiah 61:1-3, "The Spirit of the sovereign Lord... has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners... to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."
An oak of righteousness is a tree that produces good fruit, a tree that has a band of protection about its trunk. How does the believer protect themselves from the "rats" that are trying to destroy God's work?
Psalm 1:1-3, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."
The blessed man, the protected woman, is the one who delights in the law or the word of God. They consider it all the time, they are a tree that is planted where the water is plentiful and roots go deep.
Whatever is done for the Lord will prosper. The "rat band" of the word of God will protect and help the believer to prosper in their faith. In Acts 2:42, we find the priority of the first century believers was, "The word of God, the fellowshipping of the saints, prayer, and communion (worship)."
The modern day follower of Jesus Christ that keeps these priorities has a rat band that brings protection to their faith. Have the rats of sin taken a bite out of your faith? Remember God's word of encouragement.
James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you..."
n Pastor Rich Lammay of High Sierra Fellowship is a member of Carson Valley
Ministers' Association.
