The
Lord is my Gardener,
I
shall not want.
He
fills my soil with nutrients,
He
waters me to perfection.
He
restores my health.
He
trains my vines upward
for
my fruitfulness and his glory.
Even
though I am vulnerable to pest and disease
I
will not fear,
For
my Gardener is with me.
Your
keen eye and protective hands, they cover me.
You
prepare a deep, fertile place for me
in
the presence of many that wish to hurt me.
You
transplant me when I am root-bound
so
that I can experience new growth.
Surely
your goodness and mercy will be with me
all
the days of my life.
And
when I am done producing fruit in this garden,
I
will dwell in the garden of the LORD forever.
Gardening
is slow. Gardening is work. But in many ways it is similar to the
process that God is working in our lives. He plants the seed of our
life in our mother's womb, in the darkness, allowing us to grow as he
causes us to grow. When we become root-bound in our pots, he removes
us from a cozy, fruitless situation and transplants us into a new
place, a place where we can spread out and grow to our full
potential. He gives us food, water, and air.
Sometimes
we feel like the conditions are not ideal. Isaiah
58:11 says that “The
Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like
a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.' Notice
that God doesn't say he will remove you from the sun-scorched land
(or the shady place or the bog), but that he will satisfy your needs
in the midst of them, and he will strengthen you so that you become
like a well-watered garden.
I
read an article the other day that noted that when you transplant
shrubs into a shady area, they will thin out and become weaker. But
if you transplant them with several of the same species nearby,
eventually they will grow together, indistinguishable from each other
but showing themselves off as something beautiful. It's only when the
gardener embraces the fact that his garden is shady that he can work
with the plants to create something that is strong. Some of us have
been planted in less-than-ideal situations. But God has given us
others to lean on, and when we choose to live in community, our lives
become a thing of beauty.
Behind
the fence in my backyard is a very large poplar tree. It has shallow
roots growing far into my backyard, with a very large one growing
along the edge of the grass into my garden. We might find ourselves
in similar situations, where something comes along and wants to take
the life out of us. It tries to siphon off the subsistence the Lord
is pouring into our lives. Sometimes he has to pour extra blessings
into our lives because they seem to be drained away at a record pace.
But the other day, my husband took a hatchet to that root growing
into my garden, and someday God will do the same to the root that is
draining you.
Did
I mention that gardening is slow? Not only that but it's a lot more
work to garden than to fill the backyard with asphalt or just let it
go to weed. It may seem to take an eternity for God to work something
beautiful in our lives. Often the soil we have to work with is rocky
and weedy. But slowly, ever-so-slowly, God brings in load after load
of compost and manure to make the garden bed fertile. Did you know
that some gardeners have built productive gardens on top of bridges,
old parking lots, and rooftops? No matter how hard you feel like your
childhood soil was, God can redeem it.
Every
day he pulls out a few weeds. Sometimes the weeds have just
germinated and are just beginning to send down roots.
When God pulls those baby weeds out of our lives, we sometimes don't even
notice because there are always more weed seeds germinating in the
garden. And yet, he is working. Sometimes the weeds are so large
that when they are pulled, they leave a gaping hole that then needs
to be filled. When their large roots are close to the
desired plant, they may even tear some of our roots as they are
coming out. But the Master Gardener knows how to heal all wounds.
My
prayer for you is that you would be like the metaphorical tree
mentioned in Psalm 52:8. “But I am like an olive tree flourishing
in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and
ever.”
May
the Lord bless you
and
keep you
May
he make his face to shine up you
and
be gracious to you
May
he turn his countenance toward you
and
give you peace.
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