Trusting God the Gardener

I love gardening. I find it so relaxing. I enjoy planting seedlings in small pots and watching them grow under the sunlight. As they grow, their roots start filling up their pots… they to need more room to grow so I upgrade them to a bigger pot, more suitable for their needs. Sometimes they immediately accept their new habitat really well. It appears that they stand taller with their branches spread out even more looking happy and confident. I believe they’ve determined right away to allow themselves to grow, reproduce and fill this new container, looking forward to the day that they can move on to the next glorious pot. They’ve learned to trust me and my hands with their lives.

Then I have more temperamental plants that don’t do so well when I transfer them to their new pot. It seems to be that they are putting up a fight and rejecting where I have planted them. They don’t care that I’m trying to allow them to expand and bloom. It’s depressing to be around them because their leaves and branches droop looking sad and wilted, angry that I messed with their roots. They refuse to accept that their time in that old pot is up and it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. I wish they would understand that I know what’s best for them.

So here they are in this bigger pot, mad as ever. I guess they were accustomed to their old pot and became complacent and content there. However, I can’t have that in my garden. If my plants refuse to fulfill their purpose to reproduce and help beautify my home then I really don’t have a need for them. Although I get a little frustrated, I patiently and lovingly nurse the plant back to health. Eventually some accept my will and care, adjust to the new pot, and go one to become beautiful plants. The stubborn ones just give up, reject me completely, and die.

I believe that we are part of God’s garden where he loves, nurtures and waters us with His Word and the Holy Spirit. He prunes us of those dead and useless habits and strongholds that hinder our growth and ability to produce good fruit. He plants us where we are currently so that we can beautify our surroundings and bear much fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, for others to see. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit”. (John 15:16)

We have to trust our omniscient God and His direction for our lives. Where ever he has chosen to plant us we should willingly and confidently accept knowing that it is only a temporary place where we are to grow and produce good fruit. Once we have out grown this place then the Lord will take us to a new and better place where we can continue to grow even more. Let us remember that the Lord knows where we can grow best.

If instead we become temperamental and reject where God wants us to be then we will begin to resent His will and His way for our lives. Our countenance will eventually reveal our discontentment, anger, and resentment. It becomes apparent that we are no longer abiding in Jesus and His words. Our God the Gardener is left with no choice and must cast us out as a branch and we will wither. Then we will be gathered with all the other useless branches and be thrown in the fire and burned.

Trusting in God’s will and His Word is vital to our spiritual growth. Let’s never become complacent or too comfortable with where God currently has us, instead let’s be ready and willing at all times to go and grow in whatever new pot He plants us. (John 15:1-8).