Micah 4:4
My dewberry vines are springing to life again. In the photo, you can see how many flowers have budded. Some petals have fallen, and the fruit is forming. I can hardly wait for the ripening and the sweet taste of those dewberries. After a difficult winter in which a number of my garden plants died, the renewed vigor of the dewberries brings hope.
It's a difficult season for many lives disrupted by war today. We seek hope from the famous verse of Micah 4:3, which envisions the day when the Lord's rule causes the nations to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and war will end. But I want to look at the ensuing verse (Micah 4:4, NIV) to see what happens next.
Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
This verse has been interpreted many ways, analyzing the symbolism of vine and fig. To me, this verse signifies peacefulness between people and deeper connection to God.
Just as Jesus proclaimed, "I am the vine, you are the branches," so will we find nourishment and purpose in our connection to Christ.
Reminiscent of Jesus omnisciently seeing Nathanael under his fig tree praying, so the day without war will find us transferring our energy to deeper relationship with God through prayer.
Micah reminds us that war is the way of the world and not the Lord's way. While peacemakers labor and pray for the end of war and the suffering it brings, we can hope for the day of renewed vigor, fruitfulness, connection, and peace.
When I'm not writing devotions, I'm preparing for the two book parties that are almost here. The in-person book party is May 11 at Plano's Schimelpfenig Library (not sponsored by the City of Plano), and the online book party is via Zoom on May 13. Please go to my home page at CecilTaylorMinistries.com for more details plus the complete agenda for both parties.
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