Day 20 – Brier

(Erica arborea)

“Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion.” Micah 7:3-4 NLT

Briers are sometimes mistaken for thorns. Though very similar in appearance, they are botanically grouped as thorny shrubs or wild roses – commonly planted in gardens as hedges. The thorns might be smaller but the inflicted wound from a prick is painful and troublesome for a few days.

It symbolises antagonism against God – when we become prideful and believe we are “somebody” but inconsequential in the worldly kingdom we are creating. Briers represent the hateful and harmful expressions from a heart believing one knows better than God and where we should be producing fruit of the Spirit, we produce thorns. Repeatedly in Scripture, where God mentions the briers, He makes it clear that briers can easily be destroyed. The person identified with them are not blessed but cursed. (Hebrews 6:8)

Briers are one of those trees warning us to continuously guard the gardens of our heart and soul against any antagonism and pride towards God. Sometimes we choose to rather follow our own path following decisions we are happy with, contradictory to what God’s will is for our lives.

Prayer: Father, if there are any briers in my life, anything contradictory to You will causing my heart to become prideful or stand against You, please destroy it. Clean my heart, Lord, so I am not found like the man compared to a brier in Micah. Please give me a strong discernment to identify the seed of briers and to rid of them through repentance before they take root. Thank You, Lord, for Your relentless love and pursuing me through Your Word to teach me the warning signs of things that can tarnish my relationship with You. Amen.

Love, Pastor Iriza