Stumps

                                                        STUMPS

But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.

Isaiah 6:13

We have many old, graceful oaks around us, spreading their protective arms across the landscape, hiding us in their canopy.

When they are cut down or die, they leave large unsightly stumps.

Since oaks have a complicated and extensive root system, it is difficult to remove the stump. And so it remains as a constant reminder of the greatness of the tree that once stood in that place.

And defiant small branches begin to emerge from the stump, challenging us, reminding us that the root is not really dead -- that it will live on in spite of what happens to the tree it supported.

It only appears to be dead!

There are companies who will come out and remove the stump. And there are various ways we can bore holes into it and kill it.

I didn't want to spend the money for the first option, and wasn't industrious enough for the second.

So right there, in my garden, remained the knarred circle of wood with its constant stubborn sproutings of life. How could I disguise it?

All I could do was to keep cutting the sprouts back, level with the stump, and then, with flexible gardening design, just "landscape around" the ugly stump.

(Sometimes the best way to hide something is to spotlight it, call attention to it, and declare it a work of natural beauty!)

So I declared the stump a beautiful work and made it the focal point of the garden, gracing it with flowers and ferns, and even a tiny elf's bench.

Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, speaks often about stumps.

In his prophecies, he relates God's message to Israel - that they will be removed from the land because of their waywardness and disobedience....but that God would leave a holy seed in the land.

It would be like a stump left from a great tree. A remnant, a reminder of the greatness of God would be left, and it would keep sprouting, small but stubborn shoots,  and God's eternal plan for His people would not be thwarted.

In Isaiah, chapter 10, he talks about how God will allow Assyria to destroy the trees in Israel:

     The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely

     destroy...and the remaining trees of his forest will be so few that

     a child could write them down (verse 19).....

     See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs

     with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones

     will be brought low (verse 33)....

In chapter 11 Isaiah records:

     A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from His roots   

     a Branch will bear fruit.

     The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him -- the Spirit of wisdom

     and understanding....with righteousness will he judge...with
     justice will he give decisions...righteousness will be his belt and
     and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

This promise of the Redeemer, the Righteousness of God, would come from David's line -- King David the son of Jesse -- the royal lineage  that would appear to be erased when  Israel was conquered by foreign armies and the Jews taken into captivity. But the holy seed was still there, hidden in the stump of Israel.

The Redeemer Savior would be a sprout from the holy seed left in the stumps in Israel!


And in Jeremiah, chapter 34, we read:

  In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch

 sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land...

      This is the name by which he will be called:
      the LORD our Righteousness. 



We see Him again in Revelation, chapter 19, when the Rider on the White Horse is described:

     I saw heaven standing open and there before me

     was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful

     and True. With justice he judges and makes war

     ....and his name is the Word of God...On his robe

     and on his thigh he has this name written:

         King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That's our King - Ride on, King Jesus!