In Deuteronomy 20, God laid out what the people needed to do when they entered the Land and approached a city to offer terms of surrender. If they refused, then they were to lay siege to that town. Yet the Lord felt the need to include this directive that would seem to be common sense:
"When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them? However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls" (Deuteronomy 20:19-20).
It speaks to preserving what it is that bears fruit in your life and that gives you some measure of life, comfort, and peace. If that's a place where you seek the Lord and find Him, then honor and preserve that place. If it's a time of day, month or year, then do all you can to keep that time holy and set apart. If it's an activity that brings you joy, that stimulates your creativity, that refreshes your mind, then by all means engage in that activity as often as possible. If it's recreation, then play hard and without guilt that you are wasting time. For me, it's live sport events, stamp collecting, certain types of movies, and travel. What is it for you?
Have you allowed your fruit trees to be damaged or destroyed? In other words, do you take care of you? If your life's a wreck and you're under siege, can you still preserve some portion of it for yourself, to write, sculpt, think, rhyme, or recreate? If your life isn't spinning out of control, then have you fashioned and shaped your time to be creative to the max? It's important to know what bears fruit and nourishes you as you walk through life, and once you know, it's important to do all you can to protect those things as the gifts from God that they are.
Comments