“You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” Psalm 3:3

Sometimes the Lord brings to our lives or allows difficult situations, painful ones.

Sometimes He brings in or allows the most devastating of circumstances.

And we are numb, unable to process where we are.

The oft spoken, “God will never give you more than you can handle” is false.

Often what comes into our lives is far more than we can handle but never more than we can handle with Christ as our captain, our stronghold, the Rock on which we stand, and the One who, when we can no longer stand, carries us over and under the waves.

In Christ, we are not alone.

I was reminded of His great and precious promises by a much loved eight year old going through his own fears but leaning on the promises and truths he knows, found in part in Psalm 23, and on which he stands.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4)

“He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:11)

What a beautiful picture of the tender care and protection of our God who, like a shepherd with his staff, draws us to Himself and keeps us; who reminded His people in the actual desert but also promises us the same in our desert .

“...the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

His presence is sure, His Spirit comforting in ways we would never imagine.

And He sends His people, our people to lift weary heads, to give their shoulders that the tired one might stand up them, above the fray, and breathe, and who, like Aaron to Moses, will lift up the arms of the weary to give us strength.

In the Bible, we read of a man who was ill for quite some time.  He didn’t have the faith or the physical ability to go to Jesus so his friends took him to Him, lowered him through a roof to lay him before the feet of Jesus.

In our time, there are those weary, torn, sad, afraid, unsure of what is next.

We can be the ones to take them to Jesus, to lay them before the throne of grace, before our Savior’s feet and entrust them to Him.

We can remind them of the trusts of who God is and the promises on which we can stand regardless of the circumstances or outcome.

We can walk their hard road and weep with them.

We can listen without a word if need be.

We can love them with the love of Christ in whatever way they need.

See the need.

Know the heart.

Love well.

But go in the strength of Him who has said:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

     and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,

           and the flames shall not consume you.

For I Am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 42:1-3)

 

Several summers back, we went to work with a beloved ministry in the northwest among some indian tribes with whom our family has partnered over many years. At this particular time, along with our daughter, we helped in the community garden.

We weeded and raked, readied the soil in some places and tended to the fences, water lines, and raised bed boxes in others. Our job was not to harvest; it was to cultivate and to come alongside others who did the same in readiness for the harvest.

Cultivate.

“To prepare; to raise, to grow.”

We see it in the preparation of soil to make it ready for planting, with full intention that whatever grows will be established, strong, and will yield a harvest.

We see it in the tending of gardens and fields and flowers as one keeps the weeds from choking out the anticipated beauty.

We see it in watering of the soil, feeding it with what is necessary to yield the fruit of one’s labors.

If the soil is good and the cultivation intentional, that which it produces will likely be rich and full.

As a tree planted by streams of living water, so is the man who “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But His delight is in the Law of the LORD and on His law He medidates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

That man or woman, the one who cultivates within their own life, is deliberate not only about what they do but about what they think, what they see, what they imagine, what they feel; they meditate on the Word of God not to gain mere facts or to simply be comforted, but to be empowered, equipped, prepared, ready to do battle against anything that would threaten to undo them or those around them…all for the glory of God and the strength of his or her relationship with Him.

He doesn’t just read it and walk away to do whatever he feels like doing.

He doesn’t just hear it and gain more knowledge but not apply it.

He doesn’t just look in a mirror and forget what he has seen, being a hearer of the word not a doer and thus deceiving himself. (James 1:23-24)

He doesn’t just know the truth and adjust it to fit his wants and desires rather than the other way around.

He thinks on it and acts on it.

He lives it.

He reads, he listens, and he allows the Holy Spirit to convict, apply, and equip him to stand.

He reads, he listens, and he allows the Holy Spirit to guard his heart and mind in Christ Jesus and not run after the things and/or the emotions that will cause him to be mesmerized by self and what he can see and feel more than the One who “rescued (him) from the dominion of darkness and brought (him) into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.” (Colossians 1:13)

He intentionally cultivates a love for and faithfulness to the LORD and so for and to every other relationship and area of his life.

And, lest someone be so blind to think I am only referring to “that man,” “that woman” can equally be a cultivator or a destroyer of the garden in which she is planted.

Just as a flower, garden, or plant left to itself, untended, may flourish, without intentional care such as watering in the dry seasons, keeping the weeds from choking it out because the one tending it doesn’t have the time or the desire to nurture it, it will likely be anemic if not choked and dead while still “appearing” to be alive.

So will our relationship with the LORD and others suffer when the weeds choke out the truths we know, when the dry seasons make us hungry for the things that won’t satisfy and that will actually destroy us.

But as with “a tree planted by streams of living water, that yields its fruit in season,” (Psalm 1:3) the one who cultivates his relationship with the LORD by being in and living out the truths in God’s Word according to the power of the Holy Spirit rather than being “carried along by every wind” of selfish desire, emotion, or philosophy, “will prosper in all he does.” (Psalm 1:3)

That one who cultivates will be found:

Yielding a harvest of righeousness.

Yielding trust in the LORD and in the relationsips where trust has been nurtured.

Yielding a deeper love for the LORD and others.

Yielding forgiveness for hurt.

And we see what comes from a garden not cultivated.

Unfruitfulness in every way.

Discipline and difficulties will come into the life of the believer.

Discipline and difficulties will not automatically “yield a harvest of righteousness” on its own. It will, however, yield that fruit for those who cultivate their relationship with Christ, for those who desire to put off their earthly nature, put on their new self being renewed day by day, and let the Word of Christ dwell richly in them, cultivating the soil of their lives, their hearts, and their minds. (Colossians 3:5,10,16)

Discipline and difficulties will yield that desired fruit for those “who have been trained by it.”

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

It is God who calls us; it is He who plants us and waters our souls. But He has called us to be alert, “preparing our minds for action…setting our hope fully on the grace” (I Peter 1:13), to cultivating our hearts and minds.

Over and over we read that we are to “put off and put on,” “flee youthful passions (of all kind) and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart,” (2 Timothy 2:22) “work out (or walk out) our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

We aren’t to come to faith in Christ and then determine what we will or will not do in light of His transforming grace and love-infused commands.

We are to cultivate our hearts and our relationships according to His character and commands for His glory, our great joy, and the delight of those with whom we live in “this garden.”

As Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Do we know ourselves to be new creatures in Christ Jesus? If you are what you always were, you are what I pray you may not always be! But if you are new, changed, transformed, or, to come back to the text, transplanted, then I trust you may continue to thrive according to the promise, ‘They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.’ (Psalm 92:13) ‘That little garden walled around, chosen and made peculiar ground, That little spot enclosed by grace out of the world’s wild wilderness’ is not intended to be occupied by dead trees! If there is such in it He will come and say, “Cut it down! Why does it cumber the ground?” It is a living tree that He desires to have there. GRASP THE PROMISE! Those who are planted (cultivated from without and within) will flourish!” (“The Trees in God’s Courts” Charles Spurgeon)

And one more joy-filled declaration of intent from Spurgeon that has longed caused me to desire to cultivate – water, weed, tear out, and replant as needed – my own little garden, my own heart, my own tree:

“Oh, to have one’s soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness, but a garden of the Lord! Walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power. One’s soul thus favored is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Cultivate your life with me, my friend!

Prepare the soil of your minds, hearts, and lives to receive truth from the living water of the Word.

With strong determination, rip out the weeds choking out your faithfulness to God and so choking out your true joy, your true peace, your relationships.

Get out of the wilderness that you find, at times, desirous but that is robbing you of the very things for which you were created and for which you long.

Decide now to live in one garden rather than running between the old man or woman and the new.

I will alongside you!

Cultivate this life in Christ we have been called to and for which we are now equipped.

Be the tree planted by streams of living water!

Thrive and prosper with great joy!

And give the joy of a redeemed life to others!

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:22-25

“Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways. But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator...Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you… ” Colossians 3:1-10, 16

Sunshine.

No rain.

Not just dry.

Parched.

I don’t know about where you live, but for the last two months we have had sunny skies and hot temps every day.

Oh the skies have been a beautiful blue and the sun has glistened off nearby waters. But water from the sky has been non-existent.

I am one who loves sunshine and warm temps, but even I have longed for some clouds and precipitation and relief from the oppressive heat.

A good “rainy day and Monday” wouldn’t get me down…I would be singing and dancing in the streets!

The ground has been so parched that there are places around our neighborhood where the earth is sinking and the borders of the lakes are creeping further back from the brittle grassy edges.

Foundations are cracking as thirsty trees draw the moisture from underneath through their spreading roots.

Plants and flowers, once flourishing, reach to the sky hoping for a drop only to droop in the unfilled longing.

Then one day, not long ago, it happened.

It came down and the parched ground soaked it up.

A puddle or two remained.

The plants and the ground said “ah,” and so did I.

A reprieve in the midst of the heat and sunbaked earth.

We have returned to our “no rain” pattern, but that day we were reminded of the “sure hope” of a wetter season that would return…eventually.

So many times we take rain and our need for it for granted. We may even mutter about a wet weather pattern interrupting our plans, not mindful of how much of a gift it is (apart from times of flooding).

As I considered these things, I began to realize that all I am witnessing is a reminder of the soul’s true longing, even if unrecognized.

Often times we find ourselves spiritually dry and in need!

A thirst for the Lord!

A thirst for His very words.

A thirst for the truth that is necessary in our time yet many seek to avoid it.

We fill our time with trivialities.

We fill our minds with information and knowledge and empty man made philosophies but not wisdom.

We fill our minds and our eyes with that which “seems right” to us but in the end leads to death: physically, spiritually, relationally.

We fill our souls with our emotions and how we feel about life and circumstances more than what is true and fail to take those thoughts and emotions captive.

But apart from a fear of the Lord and the truth found only in His Word, we never find truth. We never find wisdom. We never find life.

Apart from surrender to the One who restores, we wrestle without end.

We never find true joy.

We never find rest.

We never find purpose.

We never find refreshment.

We remain parched.

We are dry.

While recreation and some “frivolities” are not necessarily wrong or even bad in right balance, quick fixes of pleasure can overtake us and become what we live for rather than a sidebar.

Sometimes it is sin for a season.

Sometimes it is busyness that “robs” us of time.

Sometimes it is fear or worry that takes away our peace.

Sometimes it is hurt from another that draws out our dryness.

Sometimes it is good things made ultimate things.

But the Lord, in His grace and mercy, calls us to His rest, to Himself, to that which will bring Him glory, cause us to seek and do good to others, build our closest relationships, and ultimately truly refreshes and strengthens our souls.

Sometimes it will mean repentance before God and maybe even before someone we have hurt.

“Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” (Acts 19-20)

Sometimes it will mean intentionally making time to get away, alone before the Lord, and be still…to know that He is God and that He will be exalted regardless of what what we see. (Psalm 46:10)

Sometimes it will mean that, in believing, seeking, and trusting the Lord, we will seek pleasures that are not centered on ourselves but increase our love for others and give glory to God.

“Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:28)

We live in a “dry and weary land where there is no water” both literally and figuratively, but our God is able.

Just as He is able to turn a river into dry land so He is able to pour out the rain on the dry ground and cause it to flourish.

Even more delightful and precious is that He is able and does pour out His Spirit on a dry and thirsty soul and bring life and breath and hope and joy, His presence, even in our desert times.

“God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.“ (Isaiah 44:3)

Sometimes we have to cease the noise, the images, and the voices and revel in what is true, honorable, just, whatever is pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy  (Philippians 4:8), where refreshment is found.

The rain will come in time.

Likely we will have a lot of it in the coming days, and we will rejoice and be glad as the clouds gather then open on a land and people who have long awaited the refreshment with arms wide open!

I hope I don’t forget this moment, the longing so that I will remember to be thankful when it comes down for days without end.

But for now, I want to look at the cracked ground, the thirsty leaves, the brittle grass and be reminded that my soul is like that apart from my God.

I want to be reminded that, as my soul is watered by the Giver of all good gifts even in the dry, I am filled.

I want to be reminded that those things that weigh on my mind and heart don’t have to lead to a parched soul but to the very One who revives me, to “the Rock that is higher than I!” (Psalm 61:2)

As I close, I’m reminded of some lyrics from an old Michael Card song.

In this day, let us seek to water our hearts, our minds, our souls with that which will satisfy and run to His Light in the darkness.

Let us be the ones used to do the same for others – to share the Living Water who is Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of those who call on Him in spirit and in truth; to those who have yet to hear, yet to know.

“There’ll come a time, the prophets would say
When the joy of mankind will be withered away
A want not for water, but a hunger for more
A famine for hearing the Word of the Lord.

So many books, so little time, so many hunger, so many blind
Starving for words, they must wait in the night
To open a Bible and move towards the Light!”

(Michael Card, So Many Books)