The place for the redeemed
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
And righteousness will look down from the sky. Psalm 85:11
Read Hosea 14:5—9
So this is why I have planted a garden! Why I am caught by the sparkle in the dew, the blossoms and the shooting plants. Fragrance! Why I sniff it! Fragrance! Why I’ll sit under a massive tree and get the weight of it above me. God is as earthy as that toward me. And God has made me earthy, and the earth earthy, beautiful and earthy. It’s all worth redeeming and renewing. It all has its being through him and for him. It’s a great place to be redeemed. It’s great to be redeemed on this earth!
Dear Father, dear Son, dear Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, author, maker, creator and re-creator, Triune God, you have only to speak and there is a garden! You speak and there is a man and a woman, full of life. And in face of rebellion and exile, death and despair, you speak. You speak again (or is it your original word?) and there is the Man, the True Man, truly man and true man, in whom was life and the life was the light of all men and women and children. He is my life and light, and in him your word to me is ‘Yes.’[1] So now, again, I see the garden. I look around me now, and I look ahead, and I see the dew, blossoms, shooting plants, great trees, fragrance. You have made me for life and restored me to live, to live more fully than I ever have before.
[1] 2 Corinthians 2:20