Daily Devotions | February 12 | The One Necessary Root | NW0043 | Vol 01 | Q1 | NightWhispers

Dream Word – DISCOVERMatthew 13:20-21 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. NKJV“Whoever is uprooted himself, uproots others. Whoever is rooted in himself does not uproot others.” So says the ‘mad mystic’ Simone Weil and of course, I do believe she is quite correct.Now, I do not wish to disparage Simone, this woman of phenomenal intelligence and courageous conviction, but her mysticism was quite, shall we say, ‘rooted in a broad spiritual context,’ rather than Christianity per se. Weil died aged just 34 years, during WWII. She was working 'beyond enthusiasm' for the ‘Free French,’ allowing herself only to eat what the Nazi imposed food ration in occupied France allowed. Diagnosed already with T.B. she probably ate even less. Upon her death, it was ruled that she had committed suicide by starving herself while the balance of her mind was disturbed. In all probability, Simone was severely Anorexic.Weil’s last piece of work before her death was called ‘The Need for Roots’. In this work, Simone, while addressing the past of her defeated and dispossessed country of France, both proposes and plans an intricate way ahead for the future of her country after WWII. That is the context from which I have plucked here, her most interesting observation on roots, “Whoever is uprooted himself, uproots others. Whoever is rooted in himself does not uproot others.” I think it somewhat lines up with some of Karl Barth’s observations on the love of God, wherein he argues that because ‘God is rooted in Himself,’ therefore, ‘His love is an overflow of His essence that He turns toward us’ (Church Dogmatics, p273).Extending these similar propositions of Weil and Barth, I wonder if it is correct that people who are rooted in completeness, overflow in giving life, and people who have no root, do not just wither and die themselves, but (and you will forgive my mixed metaphors here) like a drowning man clutching at his rescuer, will in the power those same panicked, angry, self soul-satisfying, iron-gripped fingers, try and pluck out of the ground even those very folks exuding the completeness and wholeness, that they so desperately desire to possess for themselves. I think there is some merit in my thinking because Jesus alludes to this very fact as not only a natural calamity of growing wheat in this fallen world but as an act of total war from the great enemy of our souls himself, waged against the church of Christ. So, what can be said about these things?Firstly then, that we need to make sure we have a root within ourselves which is fixed in the completeness of God. The root is within us, but the fruit is outside of us, it overflows from us, it hangs down full of righteous seduction, dripping with succulent juices and ready to be plucked from full and bent branched trees. Always, always dear friend, look at your root and before you look at your fruit.Secondly, that the felt choking from the world and even from professors in the church, of which there are many, are more indicative of their state than of yours. The strangling tare and the care of the things of this world will always produce a choking on the fruit-bearing trees of God. Be wise in these things, for you will know in your spirit, what the personal barrenness of incompleteness feels like and what the coughing, and choking, of life-sucking, power-hungry, black hole, critical and condemning bad-breathed tares feels like as well! Know the difference. Fix both of them. Cut them out of your life.<Support the show🎵 The Ballad Dodecet™  - Twelve Stories. One Epic Song. - 🔥 Step Into the Ballad Universe - Where twelve stories ignite a cosmos.🌍 A World Across Six Nations- From the mist-shrouded Highlands of Scotland to the deep hollers of Appalachia, the Ballad Dodecet spans: Scotland, England, Ireland-Northern Ireland,  Wales, -North America. Each volume taps into centuries of folklore, faith, and frontier resilience—binding together diverse cultures and long-whispered legends into one unforgettable tapestry of story and song.🎼 Where Music Meets Myth - Fiction, song, and folklore collide. - Each book is laced with:🎶 Original music,📓 Hidden journals & personal letters,📚 Companion fanbooks, 🔎 Easter eggs, crossovers, and spiritual insightsWelcome to a living, breathing world—ready to read, hear, and explore.🎧 ▶ LISTEN LIVE – WLMP 660 AM- HTTPS://WWW. KINGDOM.ROCKS  Tune in to We Love Mountain Praise for exclusive ballad broadcasts, story-backed songs, devotionals, and behind-the-scenes revelations.🛒 SHOP THE BALLAD- HTTPS://WWW. DODECET.COM Support the journey. Collect the songs. Wear the legend.