GET TOGETHER – The Myrtle Will Grow

Isa 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”(NKJV)
One of the things that I really love about this time of the year is all the beautiful myrtle trees that we have in this part of Alabama. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I know that we don’t worship nature. We are not one with nature, but in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit will sometimes speak to us through God’s creation.
Isaiah 55 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. We see in this prophetic chapter what the Messiah our Lord Jesus Christ can do in the lives of those who love Him. He desires to bring healing and restoration to all of those who trust in Him.
Isaiah tells us that instead of the brier will come up a myrtle tree. Briers can be very painful. I remember as a young boy growing up in Hull camp in Walker County waiting for the mail man to come. Most times me and my brother would be barefooted at that time of the day. When the mail man ran either me, or my brother would go out to the mailbox. Between the house and the mailbox from time to time we would get briers in our feet. The tar that was on the road was hot and it also added to the pain somewhat.
If we have lived life, we have often experienced spiritual briers in our lives. Those briers could have come because of our sinful behavior. It could have happened when we thought that we were going after something pleasant, and instead we ended up in the brier patch.
Sometimes those briers may have come because of someone else’s sin that hurt us and effected our life’s journey in some way. Or they could have come when we hurt someone else with our sin. And we also know that because we live in a fallen world that briers can happen as we experience the loss of a loved one here on earth. Briers may come when a person has lost their job, a child has gone into rebellion or many other ways that bring heartbreak and disappointment.
But we are promised in Isaiah 55:13 that not only the briars, but the thorns will be replaced by something beautiful Isa 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
In the Old Testament we see what God promises for a repentant Israel. We also see in this what God will do in the life of the repentant sinner who follows Jesus Christ. We see it in Joel 2:23-25 “Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you-The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.”
In the New Testament we are told in Lu 4:18 what Jesus will do for those who love Him. “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Now that is making the myrtle grow where the brier once was. If there are myrtle tress growing near where you live may it remind you that our Lord will make the myrtle grow where the briers have been in your life. Often it is here on earth, but always it will be forever and ever in Heaven one day where we are told about another tree:
Re 22:1 -4 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” Not sure if it will be a myrtle, but one thing for sure is that it will be out of this world!

Let Us Pray
Lord we thank You that in the hurts, the disappointments, the heartaches and some of the briers that we have experienced in our lives that you can make the myrtle come up. Lord, I pray today for all who read this that the myrtle will come up where the brier has been.
In Jesus Name
Amen

Love you all
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
Please pray for the Revival Services this week at Mt Olive United Methodist church on Cotton Gin Road in Tremont Ms. I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do there.

PS For those in Northwest Alabama our Broadcast Redeeming the Time comes on at 9:30 A.M. AND 9:30 P.M. on Sunday morning and Sunday night. It is on Spectrum Channel 10. In Jasper, I believe it is on TV 16.
Please pray for our broadcast that the Lord will use it to bring sinners into the Kingdom and to edify His people.