The Choice to Nourish, Flourish or Perish

UV 1092/10,000 The Choice to Nourish, Flourish or Perish

And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.


Ezekiel 17 v 24


The Lord revels in comparing people with trees right through scripture. The reason is that we and our lives are a lot like trees. We need a good root. The good root the Lord offers is Jesus, an offspring of David, from the stump of Jesse. We need nourishment and water. We need to grow. It all starts with a seed. In management and leadership terms, the equivalent of a seed is a concept. Like a seed it should be packed in a compact manner. It should contain the germ or embryo of an idea that works in the real environment. Like trees, we have branches or different domains, activities and aspects of life in which we are engaged. In the uni-verse above, the Lord declares that all people shall know that He is the Lord and He is the one who brings down the high minded, those who think too highly of themselves, those who ride high on the shoulders of others, those who are haughty, proud and fond of exalting themselves. The Lord is not opposed to exaltation or the rising to greatness of human beings. But He is opposed to self exaltation, self promotion, self adulation. We should wait on the Lord to exalt us in due time. While we wait and after we receive His promise, we should continually exalt Him with praise, thanksgiving and worship emanating from hearts of humility and brokenness.

The Lord is also the one who makes the low tree grow and the dry tree glow. He revives the humble, those who acknowledge Him and seek His protection, provision and favour. People who seem to flourish like the evergreen tree in this world are caused to dry up and those who are dried up are caused to prosper, to bear fruit, to flourish. The Lord causes a reversal of fortunes of people depending on the orientation of our heart attitudes towards Him. The taller we grow, the more we should bend before the Lord in faith, reverence, gratitude, worship and humility. We should remember the paths by which He has brought us. We should recognize that all that we are and all that we have is given to us by Him. People without faith in God and hope of eternal life are like dry bones. When they come in contact with us or when they hear the God-spoken, God-breathed, God-inspired Word, their dry bones will come alive with hope, strength and vitality. Scripture says that the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s. Our rock foundation is Jesus that nothing can shake and on that rock foundation are the pillars of the Lord: the Word, faith, wisdom, the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the everlasting hope, the spirit of excellence and above all,
the canopy of love.

Take the case of Michael Schumacher. He is known to be the finest motor sport icon. He is uber rich, ultra famous and extremely popular. But in one skiing accident, he suffered a head injury and is lying in coma for the past few months. He is doubtless a tall tree in the eyes of the world. But it ‘s a big question if he humbled himself before the Lord who gave him the health, the talent, the success, the wealth ? If we believe that everything is gained by accident, we could also lose it all in an accident. We should not be so short-sighted to wait till the Lord cuts us down. Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon instead of humbling himself after hearing the Word of the Lord spoken by the civil servant Daniel, continued to exalt himself and he was too full of himself. As a result, he was reduced as in Daniel’s vision to a tree stump that was chained. He suffered a mental illness –schizophrenia. When he humbled himself, he was healed and restored to power and position. His heir and successor did not heed spiritual warnings and so the Lord sent him a warning with a writing on the wall and then he was cut off. Like all physicians do at the time of medical examination, the Lord weighs us, measures us and determines what He needs to do in our lives to match His expectations or to fulfil His righteous will. When we are rooted in Jesus, the branches of our lives or all domains will be blessed. Even the dry ones or the hitherto unproductive, vulnerable, weak parts will also begin to be nourished and flourish. The Lord does whatever He speaks in His Word. We cannot say today that He has not spoken to us. Whatever He wants to tell us is already spoken in the Word. What He has spoken in His holy Word, that He will do. Just as water, minerals and nourishment continually flow in as sap by suction into the various parts of the tree, the words of the Lord should continually ooze through our hearts, minds and spirits.

Prateep V Philip