Day 8 – Palm

Arecaceae (Palmae)

“Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment.” Judges 4:4-5 NLT

Commentators believe that Deborah’s role as judge was a sign of God’s comforting presence amid His oppressed and downtrodden people. Of all the judges recorded, my favourite is Deborah – not because of her gender – but because of her intelligence: she held court under the cool shade of a tree in the warm wilderness, and scripture specifically mentions the Palm tree, aptly named here, the Palm of Deborah.

The symbolic importance is described as flourishing (Psalm 92:12-13), and upright (Jeremiah 10:5), and its branches are a symbol of victory (Revelation 7:9). When thinking of trees as symbolic of humans, do you think of yourself as a Deborah – flourishing, upright, and victorious? These are promised characteristics when we grow in our relationship with God and cement spiritual disciplines like roots reaching for Living water.

Prayer: Father, may we grow to be flourishing, upright, and victorious just like the Palm tree transplanted to Your own house and flourish in the courts of Heaven. May we have the resilience of a Palm; even when they are blown down to the brink of breaking by tornado winds – they stand upright and victorious. Ready to flourish for the next season. Amen.

Love, Pastor Iriza