Articles
The Juniper Tree
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
1 Kings 18 records the great contest Elijah had with the prophets of Baal to prove who the true God really was. The prophets of Baal lost that contest and at the word of Elijah were killed. Now, 1 Kings 19, Jezebel sends word to Elijah that she is going to make his life like one of them; Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Now, we find Elijah sitting under a juniper tree overwhelmed with discouragement and frustration. He is tired, he is weary, sad, lonely and feeling so sorry for himself over a situation that seems to him to be hopeless and he pleads for the Lord to take his life. But the Lord had other plans for Elijah (vs. 11-21).
The words I now write are simply the expression of what I feel in my heart on this day. I pray these
I sometimes find myself wondering if we really realize how quickly our life can change. When we awake each morning, we have no guarantee that all is going to be well with us. In just a twinkling of the eye, our world can come crashing down around us
What man or woman is there among us who cannot at some time in their life identify themselves with Elijah and be tempted to sit under that juniper tree? How many times have we, like Elijah, become so troubled that we felt overwhelmed with discouragement and frustration feeling as if we were in a hopeless situation? How many times have we, if not literally, at least mentally cried out, Why me? Why me? Why this particular trial, burden, sickness or even death of one we loved dearly?
Will we ever have hearts heavy with sadness? Will we ever feel fear and frustration? Will we ever become tired and weary? Will we ever be tempted to sit under that juniper tree? The answer is a resounding yes! But as a faithful child of God, we do not have to sit under that tree for you see, we have an anchor for our soul that can and will keep us secure under any and all conditions (Hebrews 6:19). Hope is the anchor of our soul and that hope is in Jesus Christ. When a ship drops its anchor into the water, the anchor disappears but it is connected to the ship with a strong chain that keeps the ship in place when the wind and waves beat against it. In the same way Jesus is our anchor and though he is unseen, we are connected to him at all times by the strongest chain of all, love (Rom. 8:28-29). He is our shield and defender, his presence is ours and we can say with the utmost confidence, “The Lord is my helper” (Psalms 33:20, Prov. 30:5, Heb. 13:5-6, Heb. 4:16, Phil. 4:6-7).
