Cedars of the Lord

Lebanon is known for its mountain ranges, giving the nation a unique landscape compared to other Arab countries in the region. It is also known for its food, like tabbouleh salad and hummus. Yet Lebanon is probably most famous for its cedar trees, which fill its mountain tops and is the emblem on the country’s flag. In the district of Barouk, the cedar trees are known as the “cedars of the Lord.” There are two distinct elements concerning these trees that earned them this title and from which we can draw valuable lessons for our lives.

First, like most trees, when a cedar tree starts growing, it is generally wide at the bottom and spiky at the top. However, as these cedar trees age (some taking thousands of years), they start to flatten at the top. As grand as the cedars of Lebanon are, they remain in total reverence of their Creator. The older the cedar tree, the flatter it becomes at the top, which can be seen as an act of worship and submission to its Creator. 

When Job was struggling to make sense of all the calamities he was facing, he concluded that “wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old” (Job 12:12).

Second, most people have heard the expression “dangling fruit.” Yet this does not apply to the cedar tree because, unlike other trees whose fruit dangles from its branches, the cedar’s branches hold its fruit upright, much like a person offering a piece of fruit to a friend. According to locals, this reflects the cedar tree offering its fruit back to its Creator—an acknowledgment of who gets the credit for the fruit.

The writer of Psalm 92:12–15 aptly proclaimed:

“But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. They will declare, ‘The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!’”

Both pictures of the cedars of the Lord reflect a posture of submission and acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty. Submission to our Lord is a matter of understanding that all our blessings and our flourishing come from the abundant grace of God. We must acknowledge that the fruit of our labor is not a reflection of our ability to be successful, but rather of our Lord’s abundant love for those He has created.

Prayer Requests 

· Pray for an end to the current protests and unrest.

· Currently child marriage remains legal, domestic violence is not criminalized, and the Lebanese government is not aggressively coordinating a stop to human trafficking. This puts women at great risk of exploitation in this country.

· There are currently 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and 74 percent of them lack legal status.[i]

    

[i] “Lebanon Events of 2018,” Human Rights Watch, accessed December 4, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/lebanon.