Like a Mighty Oak!

Listen to this blog.

The Spirit of the [Lord] God
has taken control of me!
The [Lord] has chosen and sent me
to tell the oppressed
the good news,
to heal the brokenhearted,
and to announce freedom
for prisoners and captives.

This is the year
when the [Lord] God
will show kindness to us
and punish our enemies.
The [Lord] has sent me
to comfort those who mourn,

especially in Jerusalem.
He sent me to give them flowers
in place of their sorrow,
olive oil in place of tears,
and joyous praise
in place of broken hearts.
They will be called
“Trees of Justice,”
planted by the [Lord]
to honor his name.

Isaiah 61:1-3

About 45 years ago I found an acorn under an oak tree in a town called Beersheba Springs, Tennessee. I remember that acorn because I planted it in a small pot of dirt and waited for it to begin to grow. When the acorn became a tiny oak tree in the pot, I took that little tree and brought it more than 400 miles from where I found it and planted it about a quarter of a mile from where I am sitting right now. When you look at that tree and the others around it, you would never know the path it took in coming to live in this place.

Jesus said these verses in Isaiah 61 apply to Him.  Jesus came to let men and women exchange their sorrow for flowers, tears for olive oil and their broken hearts for joyous praise.  He then says that they will be called "Trees of Justice" planted by the Lord to honor His name!

Like that little acorn, Jesus found you and lovingly nurtured your life until you began to sprout and grow.  In a very real sense, you did not find Jesus, Jesus found you.  All you did to become the person you are today was to let Jesus do His work in and on your heart.

Not far from my almost 50 year old oak tree stands an oak that must be more than 200 years old.  No one alive today has any idea how that tree began it's life on that spot, but it still stands and brings cooling shade every hot summer day.

Are you a "Tree of Justice" planted by the Lord to honor His name?  If you are then let everything you do, think, and say be something that will honor the Lord.  Stand firmly in His love and then one day you will become a Mighty Oak in God's Garden!