Trees

"God has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengence of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor..." Isaiah 61.1-3

I want to be a tree. I want to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, bring gladness and light to the people God has put in my life.

There are these times when we are just dry and feeble, we can't see God and don't qutie understand where we are, much less the next step. And we wonder, why? Why this, why me? What is the purpose in suffering? I think God wants to make us into trees.

What is it that makes trees such a great metaphor? What drives Jesus himself to say "I am the vine and you are the branches" (John 15)? I think it has to do with endurance. I remember being a little kid and being shocked to find out that the trees around my yard were 50, 60, 80 years old. Trees remain. Trees go through countless season changes, storms and disasters and yet, they endure. They endure and, in fact, they grow stronger over time. They grow tall and stout and their branches extend further and further. They provide shade, shelter, and fruit.

God wants us to be trees. He wants us to withstand trials, dry seasons and storms and grow stronger and more adaptable because of them. He wants us to grow fruit and provide nourishment and life for people who are hungry and dilapidated. He wants us to "rejoice in suffering because we know that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope." He wants us to provide shade for people when the sun is blasting away at their lives and they themselves are restless and dried up. God desires for the trials in our life to draw us closer and more tightly connected to the "vine", to him and to his strength, and so to grow that we might give restoration and hope to others.

I pray that as you endure, that you would not be easily shaken and blown off course but that you would remain as a tree. God will grow us, he longs to.

"They will be my people and I will be their God...I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." Jeremiah 38.41