Sunday, September 6, 2009

A Cedar of Lebanon, His Cedar.




Yesterday we finished up with tea and coffee with our wonderful hosts and exchanged some gifts. I was given some royal threads and made an honorary chief of a Bedouin tribe. The team pointed out to me that I didn’t have any people in my tribe but I told them I’m starting out with a cute blond with glasses. Today Matthieu told me that he has never seen them do that for anybody so he said we made a huge impact on them and they really appreciated our efforts. I asked why me and Matthieu just said they know who. . . ?

After that we took off up the mountain to see the cedars of Lebanon! The cedars we saw this day were much different that the ones that I missed seeing last week with the team. The team said these were far greater to see. Thanks Lord, for giving me this amazing opportunity.
The air was thick with mist swirling through the trees. It was an amazing sight. It was like someone started a huge mist machine for us on that mountain side and it created a sense of mystery and beauty.

Some of these great cedars are over 3000 years old. The tops on mature cedars break off and fall to the ground or just snap to the side and keep growing. Psalms 29:5 says that the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. It’s like the only way to get to a certain level of maturity, it takes something big to happen. A breaking, a moment of stress, but then after this moment the branches start to spread out in all directions and create a huge amount of shade for the forest. Psalms 80:10 talks about the shade that comes from mighty cedars. Hosea 14 talks about the shade that a person gives to many others when a repentant heart is healed, cared for and loved by God. I think the best verse is from Psalms 104:16 where the Psalmist states that god himself planted the cedar seed and watered it and cared for it through all times. Good and bad.

He breaks it in its time and it matures and never stops growing.

I hope I’m one of those to God. A cedar of Lebanon, His cedar. Worthy of being a part of His temple, producing a fragrance that glorifies Him and draws others to some shade.
jp

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