Jeremiah 17:5-8

5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

I believe this passage illustrates a proven fact, as sure as gravity. What confidence we could have if we could be like the tree planted by the water. It always looks exactly the same, regardless of the conditions around it, and it can be counted on to bear fruit, even in the dryest season. When we place our safety, security, and even our identity in the God who never has, and never will, fluctuate or change, we set ourselves up for assured success.

The tree has an advantage over us though, because it is controlled completely by God. It has been placed right at the source of its well being, which is the stream. When rain pours in its location, God does not allow it to grow bigger than the stream will be able to support by itself. He does not let the tree pull up its roots because it thinks the rain is easier to absorb at the surface. And the tree is not able to move away from the stream to see if the conditions are better somewhere else.

The more we can behave like the tree in these things, the more we will look and feel like the tree when hard times come. Again, the tree does have an advantage, but it is an advantage available to us too, when we yield control to God.