Stick
I usually am not a fan of sticks, because it’s something that blows all over the yard after a bad storm. I end up picking up sticks and putting them in a pile to be burned. Stick are pretty much a part of the tree one minute and then dying and about to be burned the next minute. When they are apart from the tree, they can’t get the necessary ingredients to live. Sticks are used for bats, handles, board, slats, and a myriad of other uses. They can be made useful even though they are no long living connected to their source of life. In face when I think about it, the trees have a life span when all the branches die and become sticks.
The Lord spoke through Zechariah an analogy of two sticks that he later broke to symbolize broken relationships. Check this out….
10 Then I broke the stick named Pleasant to break the agreement God made with all the nations. 11 That day it was broken. The weak ones in the flock who were watching me knew this message was from the Lord. 12 Then I said, “If you want to pay me, pay me. If not, then don’t.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 The Lord said to me, “Throw the money to the potter.” That is how little they thought I was worth. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord. 14 Then I broke the second stick, named Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Zechariah 11:10-14 NCV)The “sticks” were broken to symbolize a broken relationship between God and His people as well as the relationship between Israel & Judah.
The work stick can also mean a to “adhere or cling to a substance or surface”. There are a couple of ideas in my head regarding stick. First, I don’t want to be a stick broken from the Source of Life. I want to stay connected, healthy and whole! The second part of this for me is, I want to stick to the Lord. I don’t want my relationship with Him to get loose or disconnected altogether.
The cool part of this is that the LORD always sticks with me. He never cuts me off; it’s me who breaks away from Him. I am convicted and convinced that the ONLY Source of Life is to stay connected to the Lord. I want to stick to Him and stay connected to Him every day!
Pressing On! Dwayne