A Display of His Splendor

“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” Isaiah 61:3b   When Sophia was just a toddler, Doug found an 18 inch black walnut tree growing near our air conditioning unit that had just volunteered. Being a gardener extrardinar, Doug uprooted that tree and replanted it in solid, fertile ground that would receive plenty of sunlight so it could grow. He gave it the best place in the yard where it could grow tall and provide shade and shelter to our family for many years to come. He tended to that tree, watered it, and protected the tree by setting a perimeter of protection. He warned Mikayla, Sophia, and me to not hurt it or go near it. Well, Sophia didn’t understand his instruction. She didn’t know this thing sticking up from the ground and shorter than her was a tree. To her, it looked like a stick that was begging for her to grab. So, she pulled that tree out of the ground and ran around the yard playing with the black walnut tree. Before we rescued the tree from its forceful foe, I just smiled over the irony of my little girl in diapers running around the yard with a tree in her hand. A few days, later God had me study this verse in my quiet time. We are so much like that little unwanted, unnoticed tree. God, the Master Gardener, noticed us. He lovingly uprooted us and replanted us in a place where we could grow. He planted us in fertile soil and gave us sunshine and water to grow. If the enemy dares to grab hold of us and uproot us, He battles for us, triumphs over a foe that we can’t defeat, and plants us once again. When the storms of life try to blow us over, He makes us strong so we will not break. Let’s face it without Him, we are as weak and helpless as that young black walnut tree in Sophia’s hand. We can’t even beat a toddler in the spiritual realm! We have more than mere human strength. God is our strength. Isaiah 61 is talking about Jesus coming to set the captives free from sin, to release the prisoners from darkness, and bind up the broken hearted. He came so that you and I would be called oaks of righteousness. After all the name calling to me and mud that had been slung at me in my life, this is thrilling to me to be called an oak of righteousness and to be able to display God’s splendor! Many would have pronounced over my life that it was completely unusable and heap of rubble. Never could they see that it could become a strong, pure, right, and beautiful tree of God’s splendor. Jesus set me free so I could be a planting for the LORD to display His splendor. You and I are called oaks of righteousness. We are to be celebrated and to be a pronouncement to the world of marvel of God. We get the privilege of parading His brilliance and majesty. Pray with me: Father God, It’s amazing that we who deserve to be left in our sin are replanted as a display of Your splendor. You call us oaks of righteousness. How precious it is to us to be called this! May the world see us and see how marvelous You are. We desire to make You known to the lost and to encourage other believers to choose to follow You wholeheartedly and passionately, too. Help them to see that when we go through a storm or when we are attacked that we have more than mere human strength, but You are our strength. It’s in the mighty Name above of all Names, in the Name of Jesus, Yeshua, we pray. Amen.

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