🎵Aesop’s Fables Month: The Oak and The Reeds
The Illusion of Strength
There is a dangerous illusion that rigidity equals strength. We admire the towering, ancient oak that refuses to budge an inch before the wind, and we easily despise the slender reeds by the riverbank that bend low at every passing breeze. Yet when the true tempest arrives, the illusion of strength shatters and breaks. Last month, I shared the song “Strong Enough to Bend” in my post about the cliché Soft as a Kitten’s Ear. It fits this post as well, but I’m going with different music because the other side of breaking is when God Himself holds up a stop sign before you’ve consigned yourself to breakable rigidity.
Preventative Grace
“Oh my! How did you know that was my daddy’s favorite song?”
The tearful question came from family members of a man I had never met but whose daughter was a new friend who’d asked me to sing at her daddy’s funeral. Without knowing anything about the man, and out of hundreds of timeless hymns, I simply felt drawn to choose “In the Garden.” My song was not about applause or career advancement, it was about ministering to a grieving family huddled in sorrow in a small funeral home.
Looking back, that quiet holy moment revealed the true beauty of divine redirection. God had not wasted my voice when worldly stages slammed shut after failed auditions; He had simply preserved it to bring as a gift of comfort to the brokenhearted.
Over the years, there were multiple roadblocks whenever I came close to stepping into performance art as a career choice. Auditions derailed, opportunities vanished, and invisible walls went up suddenly. In the moment, those shut doors felt like bitter disappointment. But looking through the lens of preventative grace, I realize God was building a hedge of thorns around me. The entertainment world demands that you plant your roots deep like an unyielding oak, chasing applause and feeding an ego that eventually faces storms eager to snap it in two. God spared me from destruction by keeping me out of that harsh spotlight.
The Classic Fable Retold
In Aesop’s celebrated fable, an immense oak tree stood proudly along a riverbank, looking down with disdain upon the slender reeds growing in the shallows. “How pitiable you are,” mocked the mighty oak. “The faintest breeze forces you to bow in submission, while I stand unshakeable against the wildest gales of heaven.”
The quiet reeds made no defense. Soon after, a ferocious tempest tore across the valley. The proud oak dug in its roots and stiffened its massive boughs, determined to conquer the gale through sheer defiance. But the storm blew with unstoppable fury. Rigid and unable to yield, the ancient trunk splintered with a deafening crack, crashing violently into the mud. When the wind subsided, the fragile reeds gently rose upright along the water’s edge—soaked, yet completely unbroken because they had yielded to the storm.
The Broken Oak and Joseph’s Brothers
That shattered oak in the second panel of my artwork (The Result) finds its direct spiritual counterpart in the final frame (The Fulfillment): the prostrate brothers of Joseph. When young Joseph innocently shared his prophetic dreams of bowing sheaves, his brothers stiffened their necks in bitter defiance. Their towering pride refused to bend to God’s sovereign design, driving them to cast Joseph into a pit and sell him into Egyptian chains.
They believed their stubborn defiance had won. Yet decades later, when the fierce storm of famine swept the earth, their self-reliant strength snapped like that hollowed oak trunk. Brought to their knees by desperate hunger, they found themselves face-down on the cold stone floor of Pharaoh’s palace, bowing before the very brother they tried to destroy.
For them, pride went before their destruction. For Joseph, preventative grace held him back a few times—from going back to his father when his brothers sold him, from staying in his job at the palace when Pharaoh’s wife falsely accused him, and from getting out of prison when the other prisoners forgot to mention what they’d learned about him when they dwelt together. Yet, God’s providential hand turned Joseph’s brothers’ shattered rebellion into preservation after He raised Joseph higher at the perfect time. I blogged about this back in 2013 in my studies and commentary of the five books of Torah. That post is called The Cream Always Rises to the Top.
What God’s Word Has to Say…
Proverbs 16:18 (Berean Standard Bible)
18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:6 (Berean Standard Bible)
6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Genesis 50:20 (Berean Standard Bible)
20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Songs of a Yielded Voice
When we yield our gifts to God instead of demanding our own stage, He uses our voices for eternal comfort rather than temporary applause. Listen to these two songs that speak to the beauty of a humble walk with The Lord and of singing solely for His glory.
This presentation of “In The Garden” is beautiful and their YouTube page includes a link to a site called Music is God’s Gift. I don’t think I could’ve found a better version for this post even though I’ve shared the song before by other artists.
When I Sing for Him – Written by Dolly Parton and performed by Rydel Hernandez. I’ve never heard of her, but she does a mostly-good job. This was the only video I could find with the full lyrics, and there are some powerful ones in this song.
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🎵Rejoice in This
It is The Lamb who will sit in the midst of the throne for eternity, and it is The Lamb who is worthy of all our praise (and pride) this month and always. His is the book, written in His own blood, that will determine the destination for each of us in eternity. We can have perfect works, but a prideful and haughty spirit to go with them can still bring destruction. So, after the disciples came back victorious in a battle with the enemy, they were instructed in the right attitude to keep them humble and blessed.
Luke 10:20 BSB
[20] Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.10.20.BSB
Paul reminded the Philippians that he had places he could take pride and have confidence if he chose, but he reframed his own experience, power, and ability in comparison to Christ. That gave him all he needed to reject pride and stay humble.
Philippians 3:7-8a BSB
[7] But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/php.3.7-8.BSB
When he talked to the Romans, he reminded them that grace is the main reason to look at ourselves through God’s eyes of grace. That is enough to keep us on solid ground rather than being puffed up by pride.
Romans 12:3 BSB
[3] For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/rom.12.3.BSB
And the book of James echoes the idea that grace belongs to the humble.
James 4:6 BSB
[6] But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jas.4.6.BSB
Though many others are writing on the subject of pride this month, it still bears worth to remind ourselves what happens at the end of pride and haughtiness.
Proverbs 16:18 BSB
[18] Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.16.18.BSB
Circling back to the first verse I shared, let me encourage you to recall where you were headed before the mercy and grace of The Lord made a better way for you. But for the grace of God, go I as well. We serve a God who pursues us even while we are sinners because it is His idea & desire to spend eternity with us. Even our own desires to serve Him were put in our hearts by Him, so He still gets all the praise. We are so not worthy of the wonderful love of YahShua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), and yet He has poured it out on us in abundance. Now THAT is a good reason to celebrate with pride humility!
And this seems like the perfect place to share a beautiful song recently shared with me by a beautiful friend and sister in The Lord. It’s called “The Author.”
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🎵Savage Grace — Now With Lyrics📜
That busy day today kept me out very late & set me up for more busyness tomorrow, so I ran by my brother’s Facebook music page and found that he’d created a new video with cool scenes that match his lyrics. He’s also added a unique slideshow of lyrics that pop, fade, and spin in with the lyrics.
Though he got over 4000 streams in the first month of release, the message in the song is still needed to let people know that God is still reaching out and rescuing all who call on Him. As I said in my original post on my X, “God Himself is not a savage, but to plunge a strong arm into the miry clay to dig us out of our sin, it can take a #SavageGrace.”
Please follow Shayne (Shayne Savage Music) on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/share/18VxsPZUSE/ and find his newsletter link to sign up for more frequent updates than I give here. Check his main website at https://www.shaynesavage.com/ for cool merch and his “Liner Notes” blog posts. And tell him that his big sister sent you. 😁
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