High as a Georgia Pine

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 (the Amplified)

I went to a nearby art supply store to purchase a 24 x30 inch stretched canvas for a project that I’m working on and found out that the price was rather high. I asked the stock clerk, “Is this the right price that is shown for the [cotton duck] stretched canvases?” “Yep,” the employee said. “That size and variety don’t come cheap; in fact at the other stores, the price per unit is as high as a Georgia Pine! We offer the best deal – how many do you want? ” I smiled and acted as if I would come back to it, but politely meandered (to wander without specific direction) my way to the exit. I went immediately across town and discovered that what I wanted was nearly four times cheaper. But I remember the stock clerk saying, “ the price per unit is as high as a Georgia Pine.”

“As high as a Georgia Pine” was used of course as a figure of speech to point out something particular. My curiosity was raised just by the colloquial use of the phrase and most importantly of envisioning the height of a pine tree grown in the state of Georgia. Just how high is this tree anyway? It has been said that the Georgia Pine can reach up to nearly 200 feet high in its natural habitat. However, the Georgia Pine is best understood when it refers to someone extremely intoxicated from drug use. Here is an example.

Abuser 1: Wow, I am high as a Georgia Pine right now.
Abuser 2: Are you kidding? We just down our first pint of whiskey and we got
lots more to go. I’m as high as a hundred Georgia Pines.
Abuser 1: No way dude. How high is that?
Abuser 2: Let's open another pint and find out.
Abuser 1: I mean, if we can get higher that this, let’s try it.

Hopefully, this approach is an eye opener and has gotten your attention. Did you know that at one time sin had piled so high that God decided to wipe out the human race along with all the living creatures in the world? Give ear to what was written for our learning in Genesis 6:5-8:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground – not only man, {but} the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air – for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.

Let me ask you, is there evidence to prove that the wickedness of man is great in our current world? That in the 21st century, the imagination and intention of human thinking is continually evil? It’s appears that the shedding of blood through violent crimes of abortion, rape, suicide bombers as a result of war, robbery, etc are escalating rather than decreasing! Would it be easy to conclude that these grieve the heart of God? Is he pleased to see people of the same sex marrying each other, to be satisfied when a parent throws a new born infant off a high bridge, to be jubilant when an angry educator kills fellow workers as a result of self-imposed anger, to smile at a sex offender kidnapping, raping, and inevitably snuffing out the life of someone’s child? All we have to do is look at and read the news locally and nationally- the results are astounding. But what about a compassionate and loving God in cases like these?

Re-look at verses 6,7: And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground – not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air – for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. This is heavy stuff. Could this mean that God regretted creating humanity? Was he admitting he mad a mistake? No, he does not change his mind (1 Samuel 15:29 - And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!). Instead, he was expressing sorrow for what the people has done to themselves, just as a parent might express sorrow over a rebellious child. God was sorry that people choose sin and death instead of a relationship with him.

A good friend said to me recently [after the news of another earthquake in Turkey] that God is telling the world something! Could it be that sin has piled high as a Georgia Pine? Selah