Driving in my hometown following a storm, my attention was arrested by an incredible sight: A massive old tree pulled up from the ground by its roots and lying fully across the entire length of a resident’s front yard! Someone in a neighboring town had also seen the remarkable sight and was so impressed that she had to tell me about it before I ever saw it for myself! This mighty tree was not the only one to be wrenched from its place in the ground during the high winds, but the grandeur of this specimen made it especially notable. How can something so big ever fall so hard?

When you look back through history at the human family tree, you will find a lot of mighty oaks that seemed like they would stand forever in all their majesty. But like trees against a mighty wind, the men and nations who forgot God all met the same fall!

Can we find in Egypt today a nation as great as that one we read of in the days of the Pyramids and the Pharaohs? The legendary ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’ are just fallen ruins of man that we can only wonder at today.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream about his great Empire (Daniel 4), and it was aptly represented by a great tree that was cut down. Sure enough, the proud King lost his kingdom to Darius the Mede during a drunken party and mighty Babylon fell like an old rotten tree. Saddam Hussein thought he could be the next Nebuchadnezzar, and for a while it looked like he was on his way, but he ended up fearing for his life at the bottom of a spider hole.

Alexander the Great conquered the world by the age of 30, but what of his greatness now? “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass.” (Isaiah 40:7)

A mighty wind is coming some day and no one will be able to stand who is not rooted and grounded in the Love of God. We are warned by Jesus that “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” (Matthew 15:13a)

Political giants have walked the face of the earth and seemed invincible, for a time. But where are they now? The Alexanders, Caesars, and other Kings of the past have risen and fallen. Only one King remains, and He is the ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Lord of Lords’ (Revelation 19:16), Who has been given a Kingdom ‘which shall never be destroyed.’ (Daniel 2:44; 7:14.).

Let the Lord Jesus be your rock, and you will never be toppled in the storms of life!