Several decades ago archaeologists, while excavating around the ancient fortress of Masada in Israel, discovered a clay pot containing date seeds. Until 2005 those seeds sat in a drawer in a scientist’s lab untouched. In 2005 an agricultural scientist wondered if these 2000 year old date palm seeds were still viable. She planted them in a small pot. They grew. Today one of those plants is a date palm standing ten feet tall and is called the Methusaleh date palm.
The words of Jesus Christ spoken nearly two thousand years ago are as viable and trustworthy today as they were when first uttered in the synagogues and byways of Judea and Galilee. There is latent power in every single promise one finds in the Holy Scriptures. It takes but two catalysts to release the power of any of those promises: faith and obedience. God says, “Prove me now herewith! Give obedience to my Son and then come in faith believing in any of my promises. You shall have whatsoever you desire.”
Faith itself needs a catalyst to make it spring forth and become vibrant. That catalyst is obedience. Give unswerving, continual obedience to God and His Son, and you will see your faith grow by leaps and bounds. Things you could never believe for yesterday will be easily expected today.
Each and every day I now live I see God show forth His reality and trustworthiness in many different ways. “Great is His faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see,” so says the old hymn. Whoever wrote those words evidently had a genuine relationship with their Creator.
Think of the Methusaleh date palm the next time you find yourself wondering if the Word of God has any power in it after all these many centuries since it was first penned. You will probably be a bit surprised.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley