Hello sweet friends,
Today’s Reading … Ezekiel 40-48
“But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. By the river its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be food and their leaves for healing”
(Ezekiel 47:11-12).
The Lord really shone a light on this passage as I was reading today. It reminds me of the scripture in Jeremiah 17, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. That person will be like a tree planted by the water, sending its roots out to the streams. It will have no worry when the heat comes, its leaves are always green. It will have no fear in the year of the drought and it will never fail to bear fruit.”
Each of these excerpts use such beautiful imagery. Flourishing trees bearing green leaves for healing and delicious fruit for food. The environment in which these trees are growing is inconsequential, it is their roots and the source of their water that brings forth life.
Our world often resembles a salty marsh, unable to support life in any substantial way. The people that we encounter on a daily basis are desperate for real healing and spiritual nourishment. We can be used by God to provide this for them. We must pray against Satan’s subtle lies that we are the answer to their needs, that we can fill them and heal them. While this might seem to work for a short time, we will quickly become tired, burned out and discouraged.
Consider the tree, it does not strive to produce fruit and leaves, it simply experiences the blessings of deep roots that draw water from endless reservoirs. The leaves and the fruits are a product of the roots and the water, not the work of the tree. The tree is able to share its blessings with the people of the land, without any concern of exhausting itself because it is not the one doing the work, it is simply sharing the blessings.
We are the same. As we spend time with the Lord and our roots go deeper, we will be nourished by the holy, life giving water of God’s Spirit. Without any risk of burn out or exhaustion, we will then be able to share the life giving blessings of Spiritual nourishment and healing with the people in our lives. This is not out of any strength of our own, we are simply sharing the blessings.
If you are feeling dry and tired, it might be time to draw back and allow your roots to grow deeper. Rest in the promise that God will provide all that you need, for yourself and for the work that He calls you to do.
Love you all,
Kinsee
“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return empty, but accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”(Isaiah 55:11).
