New England is famous for its fall foliage. The colorful leaves are resplendent with the beauty of their Creator. Do you ever wonder exactly why or how leaves change their color during the autumn season? Why does a maple leaf turn red? What about all the bright yellows and oranges we see?Just recently I read up on the mystery of this metamorphosis. It all has to do with what leaves are and how they function. Simply put leaves operate as miniature "food factories." Trees and other plants take water from the ground through their roots. The leaves absorb energy from sunlight that changes carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates (specifically glucose a kind of sugar). The process by which plants turn water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates is called photosynthesis ("putting together with light"). A chemical called chlorophyll helps to make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll s what gives plants their green color. Yet hidden beneath all that green are pigments ranging from pale yellow to deep orange to bright red (depending on the type of plant or tree). As summer ends and the days get shorter and shorter the chlorophyll breaks down. Thus the leaf’s green color gives way to the underlying yellow and orange pigments thereby bringing about the change in appearance. The fact is these colors have been there all along but they aren’t visible in the summer because they’re covered up by the green chlorophyll. Moreover while this metamorphosis in color is taking place other changes are occurring simultaneously. A special layer of cells develops where the leaf stem is attached to the tree and gradually severs the tissues that hold the leaf onto the branch. Once the seal is cut a gentle breeze is all it takes to make the leaf fall. As I read of this fascinating process. I thought to myself: There are spiritual lessons to be learned here! Certainly one of them is the awesomeness of our Creator-God. The changing of the leaves are His handiwork and reveal to us God’s infinite wisdom power beauty and creativity. But beyond that I thought that there would be another lesson about the beauty that results from adversity. I thought of how the shorter days longer nights and dropping temperatures bring out an under-lying beauty that was there all along but couldn’t be seen until the more adverse weather conditions. Isn’t that how it is with trials in our lives? If we respond to them rightly they bring out an inner beauty that we wouldn’t be seen otherwise. Great lesson!Yet interestingly as I searched the Scriptures to find a text that uses the analogy of leaves or trees in this way. I couldn’t find one! In fact the analogies I did find in this regard were all
Here’s just a sampling of the Scripture verses I found:Isaiah 1:30 - "For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades and as a garden that has no water" (speaking in reference to God’s judgment on Judah on account of her sin). Jeremiah 8:13 - "‘I will surely consume them,’ says the Lord. ‘No grapes shall be on the vine nor figs on the fig tree and the leaf shall fade; and the things I have given them shall pass from them.’" (Again this speaks in reference to God’s judgment on Judah for their persistence in sin.)Isaiah 34:4 - "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heaves shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine and as fruit falling from a fig tree" (speaking of God’s judgment on the nations). Isaiah 64:6 - "But we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away."In all these verses (and more could have been mentioned) the fading leaf symbolizes impending judgment and even death on account of sin. Contrast that with the analogy of the "green leaf" in reference to the godly man:Psalm 1:3 - "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."Jeremiah 17:8 - "For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought nor will cease from yielding fruit."Notice too how in both the first and last books of the Bible the green leaf typifies the absence of divine judgment and the presence of divine blessing:Genesis 2:8-9 (before mankind’s fall into sin) - "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the eyes and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. ."Genesis 8:11 (after the Flood) - "Then this dove came to him [Noah] in the evening and behold a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters [of God’s judgment] had receded from the earth."Revelation 22:1-2 (a new heaven and a new earth) - "And he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."What do all these verses teach us? That sin appears beautiful and brings pleasure for a season but in the end it brings only death. On the other hand those who by faith forsake their sin and follow Christ "have [their] fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life" (Romans 6:22). Green leaves may not be as flashy or impressive as the leaves of autumn but the former will continue to flourish long after the latter ones fall. Sometimes we like Asaph in Psalm 73 envy the wicked and wish we had what they have. But when we like Asaph. "understand their end" versus ours we realize how foolish we are to want to switch places with them even for a moment. May the colors of fall remind us of the fleeting pleasures of sin and especially the all-surpassing beauty of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Asaph put it perfectly:
and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You?And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail;But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed those who are far from You shall perish;You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God;I have put my trust in the Lord God,That I may declare all Your works.
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http://psalm8611.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-reflections.html
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