THE PINE LOOPER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

The Pine Looper

Read:  Jeremiah 17:1-10

He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which

spreads out its roots by the river.  Jeremiah 17:8

In the summer of 1992, a fire blackened 4,500 acres of forest about thirty-five miles north of Atlantic City.  One homeowner saw a fireball with sixty-foot flames come roaring up across the street from his house, before veering away.  The Associated Press quoted him as saying, “I’ve worked twenty-five years of my life here.  The thought of having it gone in ten minutes makes you want to stay for the last possible minute.”

The fire was difficult to contain because of dry conditions.  The forest was dry despite rainfall, partly because of an insect called the pine looper, which defoliates trees.

The dry-tree condition behind this New Jersey fire has a parallel in the history of Israel.  Jeremiah said that his countrymen had become like dry shrubs in a desert rather than green trees by a river (17:6-8).  Even more alarming, he said they had aroused the fire of God’s anger (v.4) by trusting in man and departing from the Lord (v.5). For Christians today, it’s life’s fiery trials that threaten to scorch our souls if we’re trusting in our own strength.

“Father, forgive us for making ourselves dry and leafless.  Without Your mercy, we would be consumed when the heat comes.  Teach us to root ourselves in the river of Your sufficiency.”                                          MD

The person who relies upon

The Lord’s sufficiency

Is like a tree that’s planted by

Deep waters flowing free. -Sper

The fires of life will not destroy you if

you’re watered by the River of Life.