When the Wood Wouldn't Split
A lesson from the woodpile about hardship, healing, and the surprising strength God grows in us.
A Moment of Thought
In the winter, we heat our home with a woodstove. I love the warm, radiant heat and the coziness of settling in by the fire on a cold winter morning. But before I can ever enjoy those cozy moments, our family has to put in the work of rounding up the fuel. Often our summers consist of cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood.
Recently, I was helping my husband with the log splitting portion. The log-splitter itself is a 4-foot-long metal bar with a sharp metal wedge on one end and a flat plunger on the other. You place the log between the two, and when the lever is pulled, the plunger moves the log towards the wedge. The plunger exerts over 2,500 pounds per square inch of pressure, splitting the massive log in two.
The logs are too heavy for me to lift, so I get the task of controlling the lever and getting a front row seat to the cleaving of the wood. Often, the logs split without difficulty, as if a knife were through butter. Others, however, cause the plunger to stop despite the constant force applied to it. Eventually, the wood splits, but not without difficulty.
What made that part of the wood more difficult to split? Why was that portion of the log stronger?
Burls, also known as knots, are an indication that a tree was once under stress. Many factors could have caused a tree to form a burl. Sometimes burls grow in response to a limb rubbing against the bark. Insects or a physical injury, such as lightning, can be the culprit. Even environmental stressors to the tree can be to blame — extreme temperatures, or lack of food, water, or sunlight.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that difficult experiences for the tree make it grow stronger in certain spots. Often, these burls show up on the outside bark of the tree as large, bumpy scars. They aren’t necessarily pretty to look at, from the outside.
However, woodworkers highly value these burls. In fact, a few people have stopped by our house to ask if they could harvest the burls from our woodpile. These knots, formed from hardship, make the tree stronger and inwardly more beautiful and valuable.
As I operated the lever, I thought about the correlation between those strong spots in the wood and our own lives. Those parts of us that are scarred and battle-worn, but also stronger because of the difficulty. We may see that part of us as bumpy, ugly, and scarred. But our God sees the beauty among the healed wounds.
Isaiah 40:28-29 says: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (ESV)
The Israelites were facing some hard times of persecution and exile. After Isaiah prophesied of the coming hardships, he encouraged the people with the words of Isaiah 40. The Lord’s people were weary, but Isaiah reminded them of their Creator, Who never grows tired or weary. And, if His people would look to Him in the middle of their difficulties, He would give them the strength and power they needed.
A Moment of Prayer
Our prayer this week comes from Isaiah 40:28-29.
Do hard circumstances in your life cause you to forget God’s power and provision? Are you tired of having to constantly find your own strength to fight the battles?
Father, I know You are the everlasting God and the Creator of everything. I know You hold the power to resurrect Jesus from the dead and You have the power to see me through any circumstance. Thank you for being a good Father that never grows weary. I’m grateful to serve a God whose understanding is more than I can fathom. Because a God that I can understand is a god too small for my needs. I want to seek You for my strength and trust You to provide in the middle of the hard things. I know that in my weakness, You show up with Your strength. Please do this in my life so that You can receive all the glory.
A Moment of Intention
You can go through life trying to avoid the hard things because hard things make you uncomfortable. But those are the circumstances that bring growth and what can draw you closer to the One who is the Source of all strength and comfort. Just as God reminded Paul in 2 Corinthians, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” He speaks the same to you today. When hard circumstances wear you down, when you are like the tree, facing extreme stressors, then you have the opportunity to allow God’s strength to be shown through you. You may be weak, but through Him you are strong. His strength is perfected in your weakness.
Trees grow knots and burls to show the places where difficulties made them stronger. May your scars be a way for you to point back to your Savior, to be able to say, “Here was where I was weak, but God was strong.” Just as the knots in the trees grow into strong remembrances of strength through difficulty, may your life reflect God’s glory and be a beautiful reminder of His faithfulness through hard times.
Before You Go...
If this reflection reminded you that God often does His deepest work in the hardest seasons, I think you’ll love I Don’t Have to Hold It All Together. Throughout the book, I explore how returning to God’s original design helps us find peace in the middle of life’s pressures—not by becoming stronger ourselves, but by learning to rely on the One whose strength never fails. If you’re ready to trade striving for abiding, I’d love for you to read it.