Day 219 Abundant Life

 

8/7/2025

"Where once were thorns, fir trees will grow;

where briars grew, the myrtle trees will sprout up."

Isaiah 55:13

 

While studying Isaiah this morning, I was caught a little off guard when I ran across some scriptures pertaining to myrtle trees. I must say it is the first I really paid that close attention to the word, unless it was not used in the Bible I used before. I am getting reacquainted to a newly purchased New King James edition, as my daddy's fell apart on me. That seems to happen a lot! Then I also use The Daily Walk Bible for my daily tryst, and that one didn't have any space left to write in the margins, across the top or bottom or sides. I loved both of them, because one was my daddy's and the other I'd used since giving one to a friend in 2015 who'd never read the Bible in its entirety. The Daily Walk, I thought, was written in the New Living Translation, but this one is The Living Bible, so it's slightly different, another change for me. I am finding little things worded differently without changing the original intent of the King James Bible that I had as a child. Too many changes for this ole gal!

The title of Isaiah 55 is called "An Invitation to Abundant Life." It reads:

"Say there! Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink - even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine and milk - it's all free! Why spend your money on food that doesn't give you strength? Why pay for groceries that do you no good? Listen and I'll tell you where to get good food that fattens up the soul! Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you, to give you all the unfailing mercies and love that I had for King David. He proved My power by conquering foreign nations. You also will command the nations, and they will come running to obey, not because of your own power or virtue, but because I, the Lord your God, have glorified you." (Isaiah 55:1-5)

Wow! That sounds like an amazing deal! Good stuff free, all of it, if we come - note - "with open ears" - and a thirsty soul. Yesterday I blogged about ears being attuned to the voice of God, rather than anything man offers. Sounds like an invitation to Kingdom living, but there's a time limit to the invitation. Next comes the provision:

"Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call upon Him now while He is near. Let men cast off their wicked deeds; let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the Lord that He may have mercy upon them, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon! This plan of Mine is not what you would work out , neither are My thoughts the same as yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours, and My thoughts than yours."(Isaiah 55:6-9)

Although these scriptures are written to Israel, they apply to everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord for salvation. The invitation is open, but there is a time limit here. In 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 Paul the Apostle is calling the lost to come when he writes, As God's partners we beg you not to toss aside this marvelous message of God's great kindness. For God says, 'Your cry came to me at a favorable time, when the doors of welcome were wide open. I helped you on a day when salvation was being offered.' Right now God is ready to welcome you. Today He is ready to save you." 

Now the promise comes and the mention of my beautiful crepe myrtle trees:

"As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, so also is my Word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to, and prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills, the trees of the field - all the world around you - will rejoice. Where once were thorns, fir trees will grow; where briars grew, the myrtle trees will sprout up. This miracle will make the Lord's name very great and be an everlasting sign of God's power and love."

With the reconstruction of Israel, wonderful crepe myrtle trees with lovely pink and lavender blossoms will grow. There are also white blooms, but I prefer my pink and lavender colors. So vibrant, and the blossoms hang down almost like clusters of grapes hang. In Nehemiah 8:15 the people were instructed to gather branches from olive, myrtle, palm, and fig trees to construct the booths for the Feast of Tabernacles. During these feast days, they were supposed to live in booths and outside dwellings, so they could remember the days of wilderness wandering and the provision of God. Zechariah 1:8-11 the prophet is receiving prophetic visions of what is to come. He saw a man sitting on a red horse next to the river who identifies himself as the Angel of the Lord. When Zechariah asked about the horses present, the Angel of the Lord told him that they was being sent to patrol the earth. As Zechariah was speaking with the Angel, the other riders returned from their patrol and reported that they found the earth in prosperity and peace. According to the dictionary, the myrtle tree is a prophetic picture of God's promised blessing. In the book of Esther, Esther's Hebrew name, Hadassah, meant "myrtle" or "myrtle tree" and was a symbol of peace, love, and prosperity in the Jewish tradition. It's no wonder that I feels such peace sitting among the trees in my retro chair. It's refreshing to just "be."

This gives me confidence that my efforts in keeping these trees pruned and free of those nasty vines and parasites will produce even more glorious blooms with perfumed fragrance wafting across my yard to others, appreciating the beauty and the bounty of our Father who loves us. May you be refreshed in His presence, filled with His love, and surrounded by His peace, His shalom.