THE GARDEN OF THE LORD

Did you know that our God loves gardens? 

In fact, the Bible says that He planted the Garden of Eden Himself (Gen. 2:8-9). He didn’t just create them in an instant as a fully-grown garden. Instead, He planted the trees there and made them grow out of the ground.

But more importantly, do you know what is the most precious garden to the Lord out of all the gardens in the world? It is not a physical garden but a spiritual one – it is the garden in our hearts.

In a sense, when we become Christians, God plants a garden in our own hearts. It is this garden in our hearts that He carefully tends, protects, and inspects.

And as any good gardener, God looks at the garden of our hearts looking for certain characteristics that are well-pleasing in His sight.

What then are these characteristics that we should cultivate in the garden of our hearts?

1. It should be enclosed.

Song of Songs 4:12
A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse,
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.

Satan said to the Lord concerning Job, “You have put a hedge around him.” This “hedge” speaks of the walls of salvation. Walls and gates speak of ownership. God owns us.

God puts walls around us to protect us and to keep us away from those who have evil intentions.

However, this wall can breakdown through wrong influences, wrong loves, and sins that we allow to creep into our lives. Truly, our hearts need to be protected very carefully because God’s garden is not meant for intruders.

2. Pleasant plants grow there.

Our hearts, as His gardens, should produce the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the pleasant plants that God looks for in our gardens.

The symbols of the Fruit of the Spirit are also mentioned in Song of Songs 4:13-14. In this passage, the Bridegroom described His Beloved as being a garden with the following plants which represent corresponding Fruits of the Spirit:

Pomegranates – Love,
Henna with Spikenard – Joy,
Spikenard – Peace,
Saffron – Longsuffering,
Calamus – Kindness,
Cinnamon – Goodness,
Frankincense – Faithfulness,
Myrrh – Gentleness or Meekness, and
Aloes - Self-control.

3. It should attract God.

God is drawn to a heart that is filled not only with plants but also with fruits. The sweet smell of plants really come out when it is fruitful.

Song of Songs 4:16
Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat its pleasant fruits.

It is amazing when we consider what draws the God who created the universe. It’s not our successes. It’s not our ministries. It’s not our outward beauty. It is not the riches of the earth. It is not wonders of the world.

The God who owns and made all things is interested in the heart of man. He even says “I am ravished”!

God feeds on our fruits. He is satisfied by our fruits.

God is looking for fruitful lives. 

Sometimes we wonder why we do not experience God in the same way that others do. This is the key. When a person is fruitful, his walk with God is no longer just satisfying one party. But both are nourished by one another. The relationship becomes satisfying both ways.

When one is still young in the faith, the relationship is very one-sided in a way that only the believer is really getting the benefits from the relationship.

One-way relationships are not healthy. They don’t allow for much growth. But when we are bearing fruits, not only is God satisfied but it also satisfies others. God invites others to eat and to taste of our fruits!

4. It needs to be well-maintained.

Genesis 2:15
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

When left to itself, beautiful gardens do not stay beautiful forever. They need to be manicured. Weeds soon thrive if the garden is not maintained properly.

So how do we maintain the gardens in our hearts?

• By watering and fertilizing the plants  

Just as how earthly plants need to be nourished regularly, our own hearts need feeding too. We feed our hearts by spending time in the presence of God, meditating on His Word, and praying.

• By getting rid of weeds and pests

Earthly weeds take up space and nourishment from the plants. Pests attack and kill the plants. Their continued existence threatens the plants. In the same way, we can also have spiritual weeds and pests in our hearts.

These come in the form of anger, fear, a critical spirit, murmuring or complaining, and envy. We may be fruitful in our ministries but our fruits can co-exist with such weeds and pests in our hearts.

If we do not ask the Lord to deal with these weeds and pests, the day will come that they can take over our fruits as well.

• Trimming the plants 

Overgrown branches, dead leaves, dead flowers, and dead stems represent excesses, dead works, and areas of unproductivity that we should cut off in our lives.

How is the garden of our hearts today?

God removed man from the Garden of Eden because He was more concerned about the garden in man's heart (Gen. 3:22-24). And so, He is always looking at our hearts.

Maybe we’ve made the same mistakes as Adam and Eve, leaving the garden of our hearts unguarded, undesirable, and unfruitful. You may be on the brink of giving up on your own heart but know this - God won’t give up on His garden in our hearts just so easily. 

No matter how “dead” our gardens may be, God can make it live again. 

And He does so by giving us one of the greatest miracles there is – the gift of a new heart.

Ezekiel 36:26
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”