Rooted by Living Water in Shevat

​This past week we entered the eleventh month on the Hebrew calendar called Shevat. The focus this month is on trees and water. In the Scripture humankind is likened to trees. We, like trees, are called to be life-giving by bearing fruit. In fact, when God created Adam and Eve, He told them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." (Genesis 1:28)
 
On the fifteenth of this month there is a celebration called "Tu B’Shevat" or the New Year for Trees. During this celebration new trees will be planted. They, like us, need to be planted where they will be watered, and their roots can take hold in rich soil. Psalm 1:1-3 gives us a key to God's blessings: "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." 
 
Jeremiah 17:7 and 8 has a similar message to Psalm 1. "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."  Trust comes from the heart, and our confidence in God is what allows us to touch the living stream of God's presence so that our lives will be fruitful.
 
Zechariah tells us about "The Day of the Lord" when He comes as a warrior to fight for Israel. "On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem..."  (Zechariah 14:8) The prophet Isaiah says of God's people, "I will extend peace to her like a river and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream." (Isaiah 66:12) Joel 3:18 also talks about living water that will flow from God's house. "In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house and will water the valley of acacias." 
 
All who dwell by the living water that God provides are destined to be healthy, happy, and fruit-bearing. It is no coincidence that the constellation that appears in the sky during this month is Aquarius, “the water carrier.” God intends for His river of life to touch us and for our roots to awaken to His ever-flowing stream. We must ask ourselves where we have rooted and how we are being watered.
 
When Jesus stopped at Jacob's well and met the Samaritan woman He explained, "Whoever drinks the water I give to him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13, 14) Jesus is the source of everything that we need. Let's root ourselves in His living Word and allow His Holy Spirit, the River of Life, to saturate us so that our roots are strengthened, and we bear abundant fruit.