But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. Isaiah 11:1
The poetic and vivid imagery of this passage in Isaiah serves to illustrate the wonder of God, that from this stump, he called forth a new shoot of life, and not only just a shoot, but one from which a delicate flower would bloom and blossom. When we see a stump in a field or yard, we hardly think "oh! I wonder what will grow there..." A stump is usually what's left of a tree that will be no more, and if you're camping, can serve as a great table or chair!
Yet, in this passage, it is precisely from a stump that this new life springs. God can pull forth life out of things that we never could. Perhaps that is why so many people, drowning in their own humanity, simply choose to give up. It is so easy to think "no more can come of this", when something seems "over and done with." That is not the mind of God. There is no end, only new beginnings. With God, new life springs forth from what seems to be the deadest tree, if only a vine to wrap around it and reach new heights.
As the old saying goes, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." I myself like to add a wee bit more to that - when God closes a door, He opens a window, but we still have to jump out. Do we look for those windows and take the plunge or spend so much time looking back at the door we don't feel the fresh new breeze blowing into our lives?
The poetic and vivid imagery of this passage in Isaiah serves to illustrate the wonder of God, that from this stump, he called forth a new shoot of life, and not only just a shoot, but one from which a delicate flower would bloom and blossom. When we see a stump in a field or yard, we hardly think "oh! I wonder what will grow there..." A stump is usually what's left of a tree that will be no more, and if you're camping, can serve as a great table or chair!
Yet, in this passage, it is precisely from a stump that this new life springs. God can pull forth life out of things that we never could. Perhaps that is why so many people, drowning in their own humanity, simply choose to give up. It is so easy to think "no more can come of this", when something seems "over and done with." That is not the mind of God. There is no end, only new beginnings. With God, new life springs forth from what seems to be the deadest tree, if only a vine to wrap around it and reach new heights.
As the old saying goes, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." I myself like to add a wee bit more to that - when God closes a door, He opens a window, but we still have to jump out. Do we look for those windows and take the plunge or spend so much time looking back at the door we don't feel the fresh new breeze blowing into our lives?
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