Mesquite Trees
Marlys Roos, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.
Unlike invasive tumbleweeds (discussed yesterday), mesquite trees had grown in the Southwest for about 3000 years before the first Europeans arrived. Native Americans used the wood for building, the bean pods for food, and the sap for medicinal purposes.1 The Spanish used the wood for fencing and furniture. Later settlers, wanting to turn the land into farmland and pastures, found the frail-looking mesquites to be imposing opponents with immensely strong roots that made clearing the land difficult.
Mesquites often grow in groves with their long lateral roots tangled together. The vertical taproots can grow as deep as 200 feet, and if the root is not totally removed, the mesquite can regenerate. The average height for a mesquite is five to ten feet, but if well-irrigated, they can grow to be thirty to fifty feet tall.2 That’s amazing when you think they aren’t really a species of tree, but a legume (pea) plant! Early settlers didn’t understand that those “trash trees” actually are one of the reasons the soil was so fertile. Legumes are nitrogen-rich and provide valuable nutrients to the soil that many crops strip from the soil.3
With this botanical background, the contrast between tumbleweeds and mesquites is clear. While tumbleweeds break away from their weak taproot to be blown aimlessly by the wind and scatter their insidious seeds far and wide, mesquites root themselves deeply not only to their food and water source but also to each other. They may become twisted and bent by the strong winds and harsh weather, but they continue to grow and thrive, some for more than 100 years.
It’s easy to see how mesquites are like the tree described in today’s verse and in Psalm 1:3 which represents those who are rooted deeply to the Source of living water (John 4:10, 14). God often uses the metaphor of plants being rooted to represent those who abide in Him (John 15:4-6). He promises we cannot be uprooted (Prov. 12:3) and that we will flourish, bear fruit, and be full of sap, life-giving sap (Ps. 92:13-15). So, like the seeds that fall on good soil in Matthew 13:8, the mesquite produces good fruit that benefits others, even those that hate them (1 Pet. 3:9).
Like the mesquite, those who are rooted in Christ and His Word can endure the storms of life (Prov. 10:25, Matt. 7:25) and have the hope of resurrection for those who conquer (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 25-27; 3:5, 12, 21). Though the taproot is its main source of strength, the lateral roots also are key in the mesquite’s weathering the winds and storms—just as covenant community is to the believer. We are to encourage and build up each other (1 Thess. 5:11), gently reprove and restore from sin and bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:1-2), rejoice and mourn together (Rom. 12:15), and live in the unity of the Father and Son (John 17:22). We cannot “do it ourselves.”
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Though there are bigger, more popular trees than mesquites, few are as strong and giving. Twisted, gnarled, and often dwarfed by conditions around them, they continue to thrive by means of strong vertical and lateral roots, and to even enrich the land around them and feed the creatures who rest beneath them. How I long to be like this analogy in God’s creation.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank You for the lessons You teach us in Your Word and even without words. May we, oh Lord, hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for You are faithful. And may we consider how to stir one another to love and good works4
by Your Spirit and for Your glory. Amen.
1 Tumacácori National Historical Park, “Ethnobotany of Mesquite Trees,” July 4, 2020 https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/ethnobotany-of-mesquite-trees.htm, accessed June 12, 2023.
2 Titan Tree Care, “Mesquite Trees: Pros and Cons for Your Landscape” https://titantreeaz.com/blog/mesquite-pros-cons, accessed May 29, 2023.
3 Elizabeth Abrahamsen, “A Defense of Mesquite: The Most Important ‘Trash Tree’ in Texas Wide Open Country, December 18, 2019. https://www.wideopencountry.com/mesquite-trees-the-most-important-trash-trees-in-texas/amp/, accessed May 29, 2023.
More free resources for help, hope, and healing:
Treasures of Encouragement – Learn how God sends treasures of encouragement to help turn hearts toward Jesus and how the beauty, privilege and power of biblical encouragement is a means to invite others to trust the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness in the mundane moments and especially in the broken places of life. Free supplemental resources.
About the Author: Marlys Roos is publications coordinator for the PCA’s Committee on Discipleship Ministries. She, her husband, and son live in Atlanta and are members of Perimeter Church.
For more from Daily Treasure please visit MARKINC.ORG.
Originally published Thursday, 22 August 2024.
SHARE
