‘SHOOTS LIKE A PLANT!’

Stump photo by Patrick Stillhart on Unsplash.

Job in the bible made an observation from the ‘Book of Nature’.  He said, ‘At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.  Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.’  Job 14:7-9.  
(See stump photo above.) 

‘In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.’  He was severely tested!  He lost virtually all he had and became sick in his body.  It was so bad, even ‘His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!’  Job 2:9.  In the midst of his suffering he said these amazing words:  ‘I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.’  Job 19:25.

If you read the book of Job, you will see just how bad his testing was.                                                                 
His life was indeed ‘like a tree that had been cut down’, like a stump that ‘dies in the soil’ and yet he never cursed God.  Did he find hope in his own words?  Because, like he said, ‘there ‘is HOPE, like a tree that is cut down, it will sprout again’!  And this is exactly what happened to him!  Why?  Because despite what his friends and even his wife said, he continued to have faith in God!  

Therefore,  ‘The LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.’   Job 42:10-12.

This metaphor should give us all hope!  Perhaps you feel like Job, cut down, a stump dying in the ground.  Be assured, God is in the business of restoration!  It just takes faith in God!  Your new shoot is coming!  

‘Now faith is confidence in what we HOPE for and assurance about what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1. 

There are so many stories in the bible that prove that this metaphor from the Book of Nature is true!  Think about Joseph who was thrown into a pit and sold as a slave by his brothers  ‘God made him father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.’  Genesis 45:8.

Or Moses who wandered in the desert for 40 years and later delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. God said to him, ‘So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”  Exodus 3:10.

Or look at the faith of the prophet Habakkuk!
‘Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.’ Habakkuk 3:17-18.

This is what faith looks like!

Remember that ‘Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.’  
Psalm 30:5 NKJV.

And how many times has the nation of Israel been ‘cut down, become ‘a dying stump in the ground’ and yet God made sure it ‘bud and put forth shoots like a plant.’  This is their HOPE once again.  And we can do our part to help them.  The scriptures give us this admonition:
 
‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  May those who love you be secure.’  Psalm 122:6.

Why?  Because they have always been God’s chosen people and (look at the second part of this scripture), ‘May those who love you be secure.’  In other words, our own security depends on what happens to the nation of Israel!!!!!!!!!!!!

PRAY!