God's Will Over All
"All the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken, and I do it" (Ezekiel 17:24).
Read: Ezek. 17:24, 33:2-9; Ps. 18:25-27; I Sam. 2:1-10; Luke 1:52-53; Matt. 11:27.
What Is God Saying?
Not only is "God's will over all" a major theme of the Scriptures, it is a fact supported by history. Civilizations, once proud and defiant in their godless ideologies now are dead and buried. Their hollow v01ces speak across the m1lhons of weathered tombstones in cemeteries long-neglected and long-forgotten. Out of the long-dead past, they cry out, "This is the end of everything that exalts Itself against the knowledge of God" (II Cor. 10 5 KJV). God is still in control. His will alone is supreme. However tall and flourishing may be the trees of the proud and wicked, God brings low the high tree and dries up the green tree. He also gives height to the low tree and makes the dry tree flourish (read Ezek. 33: 1-9).
To Ezekiel, there is a Messianic significance in the small sprig taken from the top of the great cedar. It is prospering but doomed. Israel now suffering and enslaved by the Babylonians, would nse again to God's intended greatness and to fulfill God's intended purpose. It is also of interest to note that this description of the cedar tree (in Ezek. 33) is the probable source upon which Jesus based His parable of the mustard seed (Mk. 4:30-32).
How Does This Apply To Us?
God provides the strong foundation upon which believers may stand with an assurance that reaches on through mortal life and into Eternal Life. "The eternal God is your dwelling-place and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27). The will of God is underneath to give us assurance and over all with power to bring down the proud and to lift up the humble.
How wonderful it is to come to prayer with this thought on our mind-"God's will over all." "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that in due time he may exalt you" (I Pet. 5:6). It is no mere coincidence that the next verse is "Cast all your anxieties on him for he cares about you." Let us come often to God in prayer since we know that He who is always in control is the One who always cares.
Pray With Me
Lord, Your spoken Word is accomplished fact. I acknowledge Your holiness and power. I pray that I may see all things in true perspective. I would see myself as being capable of good and destined for JOY. I would see that all things that are opposed to the will of God are surely doomed.
The high tree is brought low. The low tree is made high. In the misguided logic of human pride, the low tree is despised, but You, Lord, have chosen what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. Keep me from becoming a v1ct1m of the cheap and the obvious. There is a secret which can only be discovered by those who are meek in spirit, "God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever."
Lord, there is also the temptation to seek nourishment from wells of carnal pleasure. There is the satanic delusion which argues that life cannot be a fulfilling experience unless the desires of the flesh go unchained and unchallenged. Help me rather to see, 0 God, that you can make the green tree dry and the dry tree flourish. It is the dry tree that flourishes. God, rich in mercy—even when we are dead through our trespasses—can make us alive together with Christ. He who has the Son has life! My heart shall be a low tree until in Your wisdom it shall be made high. My life shall be a dry tree until by Your life-giving Spirit it shall be made to flourish.
To the glory of Christ whom to know is life eternal. Amen.
Moving On in the Life of Prayer
Do we need encouragement in our prayers? Do we need patience when the answers seem slow in coming? Do we need to see the larger picture when our lives become enmeshed in the worthless trivia of daily life? God is over all. His will and only His will counts in the end. Our thrust in prayer should be to echo Jesus' words in the hour of His greatest crisis, "Thy will be done."
God's will is the way to glory. God's will is the assurance of victory. God's will, done, leads to perfect peace. "God's Will over all." Let us pray to know it, to accept it, and then to do it Just see what can happen. Certainly, it is the way for "the dry tree to flourish" and "the low tree to stand tall".
