“The country will look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down – every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps.” (Isaiah 6:12 MSG)
Have you ever surveyed your life and felt like this? All your effort, all your prayers and petitions seeming to have produced nothing? You wonder, what’s the point? Should I even bother to try again?
Oh, the Lord has a word of hope for us this morning, hang on a moment and we’ll get there.
In this text He was speaking to Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah died. Isaiah documents that detail so we, as readers, would understand that things were already rough. A beloved, believing King had passed, leaving the entire country of Judah in a tender place. As if national grief weren’t enough, Isaiah has this vision of the Assyrian invasion to come. This prophetic invasion not some time in the far-off future, but would take place within the very year! The Lord warns Isaiah, nothing will be left but stumps. The landscape of the Promised Land will be devastated. The people will be dumped from it’s borders as someone empties a sack.
Such a prophecy had to feel hopeless. Isaiah could probably hear the thunder of the approaching armies. He could likely see the people fleeing for their lives. He could perhaps picture the land burnt back and left as stubble. I don’t doubt he was ready to throw in the prophet’s towel. And then the Lord says:
“But there’s a holy seed in those stumps.” (Isaiah 6:13 MSG)
Beloved, maybe you need to hear that this morning. What looks and feels like devastation makes way for what is holy. Perhaps today you are surveying the desolation that used to be your life, your ministry, your family, your finances, your reputation, your preferred future. Maybe it feels chopped down and burnt out. Hang on, “there’s a holy seed in those stumps.” God hasn’t give up just yet, and neither should we. Don’t discount his ability to birth a miracle in most unlikely places. I’ve been to Bethlehem; it’s nothing much. God does His best work in barren places, remember? “The earth was empty and formless…” (Genesis 1:2 NIV) He births new, abundant life in the very places that other people would pass over.
Believe that He is good and He is God. Believe that miracles are still His number one business. Believe that He can grow a hearty root from nothing, a towering tree in a hollowed-out place. Don’t give up because He’s not done.
Lord, forgive our poor vision. It’s hard to see what You might be up to when the landscape is so desolate. Help us have faith in Your seed among the stumps. Give us courage to stay faithful when our gut is to run. Amen.