Astonished, I said, “And Master, how long is this to go on?” He said, “Until the cities are emptied out, not a soul left in the cities— Houses empty of people, countryside empty of people. Until I, God, get rid of everyone, sending them off, the land totally empty. And even if some should survive, say a tenth, the devastation will start up again. The country will look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down— Every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps. But there’s a holy seed in those stumps.”
-Isaiah 6:11-13 MSG
Several years ago my family was sitting at the dinner table having a discussion, when my 4 year old sister, in a desperate attempt to join the conversation, interjects with
"Ya know, I have a lima bean in my purse I've been meaning to plant."
As if we were just talking about lima beans. Which I can assure you, we were not.
The passage above is aimed at Judah, a people who once obeyed God with undeterred passion and reverence. But Judah had sunk into a pit of sin, caught up in becoming successful. And when things went wrong, they turned to sex and alcohol. They were corrupt, and God was not happy. The entire book of Isaiah is a message from God warning his people that if they don't get their act together he will destroy them. God says that He will turn their forests into stumps, which is a metaphor for the people of Judah.
But at the end of this particular chapter, God clarifies that, even after disobedience and destruction, God will remain within His people. The Holy seed of God will always remain within his creations.
No matter how many times you disobey God and turn to the wrong habits, it will never be too many times. You can never lose the Holy seed He has placed within you. You were designed for a purpose and a calling, which can be revealed and achieved through the nurturing of the seed God has in you.
We were each designed by God in the image of God. He is a part of our identity. He can't help himself when it comes to loving us. Even Judah experiences the love and mercy of God in Isaiah 19:20
"When they cry out in prayer to God because of oppressors, he’ll send them help, a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them. God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they’ll get to know him on that Day." MSG
God loves the people of Judah even if they are disgraceful little hooligans who refuse to listen to a word He says. When they are tall tress and when they are stumps, God's seed is still within them.
It is our job to nurture that seed and allow it to grow within us, allowing us to become who God intended us to be. But know that the seed of God within you will never disappear and you will always be worthy of God's love and attention, tree or stump.