And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah
58:11)
I hope there are some among the readers of this devotion who are gardeners, for
they will already have a good understanding of the Garden of the Soul. Here is
a fine description that is given by Solomon: “A garden inclosed is my
sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an
orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;
myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou
south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my
beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” (Song
4:12-16)
This is very akin to the love and passion Christ has for His own Bride, the
Church, and each heart that comprises that Church. It is generally believed
that the soul resides in the spiritual heart – not the clay organ that pumps
our life blood to the body, but the tender Temple of the Spirit from which
flows Living Waters of Life to all who come near to it – if its occupant is
Christ. This spiritual heart is what I refer to as the Garden of the Soul
for it is, in so many ways, precisely like a Garden.
If you have an elementary understanding of gardening, you will know that a
garden needs protecting. We erect fences and raise scarecrows around our
gardens. We go out regularly to insure that nothing has invaded the garden to
steal its treasures of nutritious vegetables, fruits, or flowers. One nagging
problem that we must always be aware of, and expunge from the garden, are weeds
and parasites. These are comparable to the spiritual desires, lusts, and
temptations that confront the Garden of the Soul as well. These need no
cultivation for they spring up in every place that the enemy of our soul has
planted them. Those spiritual weeds will take over the Garden of the Soul if
left to themselves. As the comely Shulamite Maiden (the Church) spoke unto her
Beloved Solomon (Christ): “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that
spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am
his: he feedeth among the lilies.” (Song
2:15-16) We need not wonder about these ‘little
foxes’ for they are cunning temptations that try to draw us away from the
production of fruit in our Garden. They may be sins that are cherished,
silently, just beneath the surface of our garden walls. All others we forsake,
but we hold to that cherished “wedge of gold.”
It is in the Garden of our Souls that we, too, will find our Beloved Lord. He
walked in the Garden, eastward in Eden, among the flowing waters and terraced
beds of flora with Adam and Eve. That Garden was guarded by Angels. But they
fell victim to the lies and deceits of the devil in their disobedience of their
Beloved Maker. They were expelled from the Garden. They wondered in a new and
nearly barren wilderness in darkness with little hope of returning to the
Garden. But God, as He always does for His beloved, made a way for them long
before they fell from grace – the Master Gardener (Jesus Christ) would make a
way for their reconciliation with God the Father if they would only accept and
follow that WAY.
So now we must guard our hearts (souls) with constant vigilance against that
same voice that led astray our first parents. He lingers always near the Garden
and watches for every breach in our defense. He is anxious to plant bitter-weed
alongside our herbs and vegetables. One thing the veteran gardener knows is
this: If you plant cucumbers or corn, the earth will render the same in
multiplied quantities. If you sow the wind, you will likewise reap the
whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7) The devil will happily provide
you with every ill-wind you wish to sow; but the good seed come only from God.
A good garden must be prepared by cultivation. Do we prepare the hearts of our
youth to know Christ in the time of understanding? Cultivation is not easy – it
requires concentration, effort, and discipline. But if we raise our children in
the nurture of God’s Word, the seed we sow will have fertile ground from which
to spring forth in search of the Light of the Sun.
Once we have sown good seed, we stand by for the seed to germinate in the heart
and darkness of the earth. It is much like the devoted Bible scholar who reads
the Word, meditates thereon, and suddenly sees its growth burst forth into the
light with astonishing beauty. So we have gotten a good start by seeing our
fruits begin to sprout and grow. But someone is not at all happy. The same who
disdained the beauty of God’s Eden also disdains your beautiful garden. He
throws into it the staple of his wicked heart – weeds. So by and by, you see
these weeds spring up among your good plants. Now you must exert more effort to
rid the garden of these weeds (sins). Care must be taken not to bruise the
fruit of your garden. Not only do weeds spring up without cultivation, but so
do insects and other varmints that labor not, but thrive on the fruits of your
labor. The gardener’s work is never done. In the sweat of his brow, the
gardener combats every thief that would ruin his garden until comes the harvest
and he takes his rest in the shade, and enjoys the fruit of his labor. The
devout Christian shuns the wicked urge and expunges it from the Garden of his
Soul. He is ever vigilant until the day of harvest finally arrives when the
shadows lengthen and the fever of life abates. He has no regrets. I have never
heard a deathbed confession, or a prayer from a dying soldier on the battlefield,
that laments the lack of not having sinned more in life. The desire is always
that they would have done more good and less evil.
There is yet another kind of pestilence with which the gardener must contend –
THIEVES. They seem to feel more at home in the churches of America today than
in any previous time. They wish to steal the fruit of God’s house and
mal-appropriate it. While a young man living in the Far East, I saw that every
large paddy or orchard was furnished with a tall tower made of slender wooden
frames. They were everywhere, and I knew that they could not be for the purpose
of sighting forest fires. The local farmers told me that these were watchtowers
to keep thieves from stealing the fruit of their labors. The Garden of
our Soul needs the Watchtower of God’s Word for the same purpose. The wolf in
sheep’s clothing cannot forever wear his disguise. There are many clues by
which we may know him if we read our Bibles with the diligence he reads his.
Remember, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou
doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19) That old serpent, the devil,
knows the Voice of Christ and His Word well – and so do his minions. But they
do not accept the Lordship of Christ. They are after those souls that belong to
Christ, and we must be vigilant against his evil designs. He is a traitor that
may march under our colors and wear our uniform.
The joy of the Garden has always been for our benefit. The first Garden at Eden
was for our benefit until Adam squandered away the gift. The Garden at
Gethsemane was for our sole benefit, but was the great hurt of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It was a Garden through which He must go if He was to redeem us. It was
the time of cultivation and sowing (His own Body) that was at Gethsemane. We,
the cast-out gardeners, only observed from afar His Passion and pain.
There was another Garden to which the beloved Mary Magdalene came, furtively,
while it was yet dark. She came seeking the dead body of her Beloved Lord. What
joy would she find in this Garden that was so near to that dreadful Hill of
Golgotha? Not finding His dead Body, she was in sore distress. Her tears were
profuse and even blinded her. “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh
in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) Suddenly, her abject grief was
turned to ecstasy. Her profuse tears of sorrow were turned, in an instant, to
tears of Joy. (Need I tell you that I consider this the most tender passage of
all of Scripture?)) The long night of Jesus entombment was about to burst forth
in brilliant morning light!
“And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her,
Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she
turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom
seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him,
Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will
take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” (John
20:1-16)
Knowing Jesus by His appearance is not enough! We must have a heart-knowledge
of Him as did Mary. She mistook Him for the gardener! Was that a mistake? No,
it was not for Jesus is the Master Gardener of the Garden of our
Souls and of that first Garden at Eden, which He made for us.
What a joy for the Christian believer to seek Christ early, while it is yet
dark, and to hear Him tenderly call our name in a way that no man can do!
No one could pronounce the name of Lazarus as did Jesus outside the Tomb at
Bethany. No man could pronounce the name of Mary as did Jesus outside His own
borrowed tomb in that early morning Garden. No one can pronounce your name the
way Jesus does when He calls you. Even in the sleep of death, His Voice echoes
down the annals of time and eternity to enliven and quicken a heart that has
ceased to be among the land of the living. Back to the Garden He calls you.
There is labor to do in His Vineyard.
Have you heard that Voice, friends?
