Not Seeing the Forest for the Tree

There are many dangers that threaten to disrupt the contentment of our souls.  A very common, but sometimes very subtle, danger is what I call “not seeing the forest for the tree.”  What do I mean by that?  Well, the original example is from the Garden of Eden (I know, it was a garden, not a forest!).  Eve was the first person to “not see the forest for the tree.”  How so?  Here’s the story:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ( Genesis 2:15-17, 3:6)

Think about this: there were many different fruit trees in the garden, and they were all undoubtedly delicious to eat from.  But Eve focused on this one tree, and how it was “good” and that it was “a delight to the eyes.” Once Eve focused on this tree that she could not have, she could no longer see the “forest” of all the trees she could have.

The same thing happened to David.  When he focused on Bathseba, it was like he was blind to the “forest” of wives he already had.  God confronted David by saying to him, “I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.” ( 2 Samuel 12:8 )

We focus on not being able to afford a Lexus, so we can’t enjoy that our beat-up Chevy gets us to where we need to go. We focus on not having a husband that picks up after himself, and miss out on the blessing of having a husband that isn’t addicted to crack.  We are so frustrated with our overbearing boss that it robs us of the gratitude for a regular paycheck.

So, exam time: where are you frustrated, where are you not content, where are you struggling in your present lot in life?  What is YOUR “tree”?  And what is your “forest” of other trees, other blessings in your life that you are being blind to because you can’t take your eyes off that tree?

What, are you saying, “But you don’t know my boss”  “You don’t know how badly I need this relationship” “You don’t know…”  No, I don’t know how big your tree is, but I do know that if you are a child of God you are standing in a forest of His blessings, and it is your choice and my choice to look at the forest, and not the tree.

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