“For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.
Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,
Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.”
— Job 14:7–9 NKJV
I’ve always loved the look of autumn trees. There’s something about watching the leaves change and fall that makes me feel more alive, even while everything around me appears to be dying.
Maybe it’s because I know what comes next.
But a stump is different. There are no beautiful leaves left to admire. No branches reaching toward the sky. Just what remains of something that once stood tall.
And yet Job says there is still hope for that tree. Not because of what can be seen above the ground, but because something beneath it can still respond to water.
I wonder how often we look at something that appears finished and assume there’s nothing left. A season ends. Something changes. What once seemed full of life is reduced to what remains, and we find ourselves wondering if anything will ever grow there again.
But I love the wording in Job. It doesn’t say the tree has to see the river or even stand beside it. It says at the scent of water.
Just enough to awaken a response.
Sometimes that’s how the Word of God reaches us. A familiar Scripture suddenly catches our attention. Something we heard years ago comes back to mind. A question sends us searching, and we begin to discover something we weren’t ready to see before.
The truth wasn’t missing. It was there all along.
And perhaps what we thought was finished still has something beneath the surface waiting to respond.
That’s the heart behind Lingering Scent. The little traces of truth that stay with us, stir our hunger, and send us looking for the Source.
Not every ending is the end of life. Sometimes it’s simply the end of what we could see.
So perhaps the question isn’t whether there’s anything left.
Perhaps it’s whether we’re still willing to respond when the water comes.
At the scent of water, it will bud again.