God at Work In OUR LIVES
God Provides Shelter in His Tree
Ezekiel 17:22-24

†  I.H.S. †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ provide you comfort, as you make yourself at home in Him..

A Man’s Tree is His Castle?

Robert Redford, in the movie “the Last Castle” describes the prison he is incarcerated in with these words,

“Take a look at a castle. Any castle. Now break down the key elements that make it a castle. They haven’t changed in a thousand years. 1: Location. A site on high ground that commands the territory as far as the eye can see. 2: Protection. Big walls, walls strong enough to withstand a frontal attack. 3: A garrison. Men who are trained and willing to kill. 4: A flag. You tell your men you are soldiers and that’s your flag. You tell them nobody takes our flag. And you raise that flag so it flies high where everyone can see it. Now you’ve got yourself a castle. The only difference between this castle and all the rest is that they were built to keep people out. This castle is built to keep people in.”

What he misses is the reason for the castle—security for his family, a place where what he treasures is safe, a place where, while vigilant, he can rest at the end of every day, having made the place as secure as possible.

It is said that every man’s home is his castle, or at least it should be.

Or better yet, everyone needs a spot in a tree house… the one talked about by Ezekiel, which the gospel tells us started with the smallest of seeds…

Yep—that’s what we need—a really nice solid treehouse…

One provided and sustained by God!

Why do we need peace?

The man, or woman, or family looking for a castle is looking for a refuge, a sanctuary, a place to know peace and call home.

Why we look for peace, for that place to call home, is simple. We don’t belong in the world; it is NOT our home. That causes some dissonance, a disturbance, a lack of peace that aggravates us, causes massive amounts of anxiety and pain.

What causes this feeling that the world is broken is, bluntly sin. You sin, my sin, the sins that made us victims, the effect of 8 billion sinners. That’s why the world looks broken, that’s why God allows some places to wither and die, and why we dead trees need new life.

With that kind of world to live in, it’s now wonder we want our own castle, our own place to try to rest, a place free of all the brokenness of out there… and even to escape the brokenness of in our own souls.

But a castle has a problem–you always have to keep watch, you always have to be ready to go on defense, you always, to quote Redford, ready to defend the flag…

And that means you can’t rest…and weary, broken souls can’t….

Which is why we need a treehouse, rather than a castle…

Better than a castle—His tree…

Ezekiel’s prophecy about Jesus shows us that He is the tree in which our house, our home, is built. A place where all of us welcome where we don’t have to be defensive, because all are welcome, as they are healing from..

A place where we don’t have to be on defense. We don’t have to worry about attack because God has promised that nothing can take us from the refuge we have in Him! Hear the promise again:

“It will become a majestic cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed. Birds of every sort will nest in it, finding shelter in the shade of its branches.

That picture of a nest, of a shelter, pictures a home—not just a castle. It pictures a time of peace—a peace that allows us to leave that sanctuary and come back, bringing others into it, for people of every sort, from every part of the world, so they can find peace.

Earlier this week my devotions had a lot to do with the Lord’s Supper – not the theology behind it, but rather the benefit of it,

One of the quotes I cam across, from the Lutheran Confessions, was this:

We believe, teach, and confess that no genuine believer, no matter how weak he may be, as long as he retains a living faith, will receive the Holy Supper to his condemnation, for Christ instituted this Supper particularly for Christians who are weak in faith but repentant, to comfort them and to strengthen their weak faith.

This is the same idea as the nest, the same idea as finding shelter in the shade of its branches. The idea of coming up here to the altar isn’t to be able to explain the mystery it is, and how the different churches see it—the idea is to find the rest, the peace, the assurance that we are God’s—who gives us His body and Blood in this precious feast…even as He strips us of all our burdens.

That is why we find ourselves at home there able to become comfortable, free of all strife and stress, freed from anxiety and guilt, shame and resentment that could steal our joy. This place is our nest located in Him, it is here we find shelter, as He protects us from all that would hurt or burn us, it is here we are reminded that we dwell in His peace… until we arrive in His presence.

Until then, enjoy dwelling in tree home that God provides for you in Christ Jesus. AMEN!