What to do With the Trees?

By Jerry D. Ousley

            Whack … whack … whack!  I was in the process of chopping down a tree.  We had purchased a wood stove to heat the house (on wheels at the time) and we had recently purchased 7 acres of land, most of which was covered with trees.  I decided that I was going to be the man!  So, I grabbed my handy hatchet and headed into the “bush” to produce our own firewood.  It would save a lot of money to cut it myself rather than purchase it.  The only problem was that every “whack” hit in a different place.  I didn’t think that I would ever get a tree cut down.  And the one I was working on was only about three inches in diameter!  I found myself wondering, “How did the pioneers ever get enough big trees cut with an ax to build those magnificent log cabins?  I found out very quickly that they were more of a man than I was.  Long story short … I purchased the fire wood from then on.

            In Deuteronomy 20:19-20, God instructed Moses in the case of war and a long besiege of a walled city.  He said, “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food.  Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.”  In ancient war, one of the tools used was that of cutting trees to make battering rams for city gates and ladders to scale the walls.  Sometimes, in order to cripple the land, they would destroy the fruit trees, reducing the food supply of the people they were at war with.

            However, God told the Israeli people not to do this.  Remember, they weren’t just trying to conquer a city in order to steal its wealth.  God had instructed them to conquer the land because He wanted them to live there.  Destroying the fruit and nut trees didn’t just hurt the people currently living there, but would also hurt them in their future occupation.  For the sake of this article, we won’t go deeply into the “whys” of conquering cities and destroying its occupants in order to take the land from them.  There’s a lot to consider in this.  While on the surface it may seem like God was being cruel to those who lived there first, God had told the Israeli people to do this because the wickedness of those nations then living there was so bad that they had to be eradicated.  One historian, who did not confess to be a Christian, said that the wickedness of these people was so bad that had they been allowed to continue they would have infected the morals of the entire Earth.

            Why are the wars and battles of the Old Testament important to us as Christians?  Aren’t we now supposed to be operating in love and not with war and hatred?  Yes, we are.  However, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:6 and again in verse 11, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted … Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”  This is very important because we are in a great battle and war, only it is spiritual rather than physical.  So, saving the fruit trees can also become a wonderful symbol for us in our own spiritual battle.  We are fighting to conquer a land.  But we are doing battle for our very souls.  We don’t fight against flesh and blood but against “principalities and powers” (see Ephesians 6:12), unseen forces with the natural eye.  The devil and his demons are always trying to tempt us to do things in rebellion to our Father.  The fruit trees represent the provision God makes for us daily, spiritual provisions like Bible reading, prayer, worship and spending quality time with God.

            Our enemy, the devil, would like for us to get involved in other things, things that might even seem like good stuff that would enhance our growth in Christ and make us stronger.  Instead, the busy work, the subtle things that take our attention away from God can actually undermine our relationship.  There is much “busy work” in a congregation of people.  Most of it is necessary for the ministry.  But it can become a detriment if it is allowed to take our personal time with God away from us.

            When I was in Bible College, I was considered to be one of the smart students.  I mostly made good grades.  Because of that, many of the other students would ask me to help them study, to which I was glad to oblige.  One particular test that was coming up was gong to be a very tough one.  Every time I would sit down to study for it, someone would ask me to help them.  I thought that if I helped them that it would in turn help me.  However, on the day of the test, most of those I had helped got good grades.  I on the other hand received an “F” because even though I had helped the others study, I let it take away from my own study time and it caused me to fail.

            In like manner, when we fill our time with things that seem good but don’t allow us the time that we need for our own spiritual growth it is like destroying the fruit trees in battle.  The act may help us to win the war, but afterwards we have cut off our own supplies and face spiritual starvation.  What do we do with the trees?  We use them wisely so that we grow in God’s Kingdom.  Eat the fruit – don’t chop it down!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.