the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Voice of the Lord
As you come, the mountains and hills will burst out into song, and all the trees in the countryside will clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12).
Tu BeShevat, the 15th day of the month Shevat, is also referred to as Rosh HaShanah Le'Ilanot (the New Year for Trees). It marks the end of the winter rainy season in Israel, and the renewal of the cycle of growth. Significantly, Tu BeShevat falls between mid- January and mid-February, not long after the Gregorian New Year. And in the Hebrew calendar it is one of four New Years, along with Rosh HaShanah in the fall, the first day of Nisan in the spring, and the first of Elul—the day of counting the tithe of cattle—in the late summer. New beginnings are healthy, and we require more than one fresh start each year.Why a New Year for trees, though?
Perhaps trees can represent the whole order of nature, which is renewed yearly, and will be renewed in unimagined ways when Messiah returns. When we mark a new year for trees, we look ahead to the ultimate new beginning, when the creation itself "would be set free from its bondage to decay and would enjoy the freedom accompanying the glory that God's children will have" (Romans 8:21).
...look at this world through the eyes of faith and imagine how even nature will be changed when Yeshua returns. I will also set aside some money to help plant trees in Israel.
RR
The Voice of the Lord, Copyright © 1998 by the Lewis and Harriet Lederer Foundation, Inc. Published by Messianic Jewish Publishers, Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission. No part of this article may be reproduced in print or on the web, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of the publisher.
