Good Morning Creatives!
As a faith based artist, I think it’s easy for me to sometimes get sidetracked by the art and stay surface level with what the scripture is trying to say.
So today I want to concentrate more on the WORDS and less on the ART.
Digging Deeper
I was recently reading reading in Isaiah and came across Isaiah 55:13. It reads:
Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. Isaiah 55:13 (NIV)
Just reading that, it can be easy to look at the surface and say “Well..ya…Anything is better than thorn bushes and briers!”
But…We have to remember that when The Bible Was written, symbolizism was used greatly and the writer of Isaiah used these different plants/trees to show the something greater. With a little research, we can see that God is offering much more than a path free of thorns and briers.
The Trade
Let’s breakdown what each of these plants mean (symbolically.)
Thorn bush=distance
Juniper=shelter
Briers=hurt
Myrtle=Love
Can you see the play between the negatives and the positives?
If we rewrote the scripture, subbing in the symbolism it would read like this:
Instead of the DISTANCE will grow the SHELTER and instead of HURT the LOVE will grow.
Pretty awesome right?
Isaiah is literally telling us that we can trade our distance and hurt for God’s shelter and love.
Final Thoughts
See how digging a little deeper brings even more promise?
It can be easy to settle for the small promise of a thornfree path, but God is offering so much more if we just take the time to delve a little deeper.
He wants to exchange our distance for shelter and our hurt for love.
We just have to allow him.
Until next time.
Keri Sallee
PS Supplies used:
Master’s Touch Acrylic Paint