Last summer, I tried to grow tomatoes (yet again). I bought heirloom starter vines and a wooden trough planter. I talked to farmer friends about best practices and even concocted an organic fertilizer mixture that was supposed to make my plants flourish. The growing season ended, however, and I had plucked a grand total of one tomato—a scraggly, little fellow, slightly larger than a golf ball.
A garden must also be purposefully landscaped, carved out of the earth with attention and care. Isaiah told Israel: “Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined” (Isaiah 51:1). I have gardening neighbors who must know some of the joy that God experienced, bringing a beautiful garden to life.
When Isaiah spoke of a garden, he described a lush landscape overflowing with beauty and bounty. This garden is Israel, God’s chosen people. A garden was the first place God met with the humans He created, and the fertile garden continued as a guiding image for the world and the people God loved (Genesis 1:1–2:25).
Sadly, Israel ran from God, and the result was that their garden was in disrepair. But the prophet promised that the “LORD [would] comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins” (Isaiah 51:3).
God didn’t abandon His garden—His people. For He doesn’t abandon His promises. When God’s work on this earth is done, the parched desert earth will again yield the lush fruit and the potent fragrance of Eden. When the Master Gardener finishes His work, Israel’s “barren wilderness [will be] like the garden of the LORD” (Isaiah 51:3).
God longs for the entire world to be His garden. One day, it will be.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Mark 8:22–9:1
More:
Read Psalm 1:1-6. What garden and farming imagery do you find in it? What does this tell us about God’s work on our behalf?
Next:
How has the garden of your life become barren or dry? In what ways is God helping to make it blossom?
tom felten on July 22, 2013 at 9:22 am
Winn, I share your “gift” of NOT possessing a green thumb. 🙂 And I, too, praise God that He hasn’t given up on me when my ways became tangled and my spiritual fruit was paltry. I rejoice in what the apostle Paul wrote: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Praise God for growing us to become more like Jesus!
winn collier on July 22, 2013 at 2:30 pm
we should start a support group
mike wittmer on July 24, 2013 at 9:04 am
You probably just need lots of manure. Though I’m not sure what that will do to your fine analogy.