"A Very Special Reason"

 "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard," (S.O.S. 4:13)

  Not so long ago, things were simple, life was less complicated, and time seemed a little less speedy; if that makes any sense to anyone at all! I can only expect that the Lord is at the gate, waiting and watching for that moment, when the Father says that word, "Go!" If there was a way to simplify things, it is by letting God's Word guide and strengthen our lives. To make His truths certain in our hearts, and to train our minds to stop doubting every single thing that might seem uncertain and unexpected. The enemy is going to use every single thing that he has; but everything he has is not enough to take down the church; but it is enough to deceive those that are not paying attention. 

  What is it that we are looking at? and why is this such a very special reason? Matthew Henry puts a little light on this, by saying, "Here is great plenty of fruits and great variety, nothing wanting which might either beautify or enrich this garden, might make it either delightful or serviceable to its great Lord. Every thing here is the best of the kind." We know that this place is in heaven, but, it is manifested in you and I here, right now, and in everything that is done towards the Kingdom of God. As crazy as that might sound, it is simply the way that it works! There is no other meaning for the treasure that we store up in heaven, then to produce these plants that are in God's glorious garden! 

  All of us are special in our own unique and different ways; but every single one of us have something very special in common: We all have the same Lord! This is a very special place for a very special reason, because this was what He purchased and planted with His death and resurrection. It was His death that planted the seeds; but it was His resurrection that caused these spectacular plants to grow. Each and every single one, has been grown and is grown to perfection; there is not a single thing that is lacking, and there is not a single plant, in this garden, that needs to be pruned or manicured. 

  Besides that, in light of all that we see and know about ourselves and others around us, we are all somehow uniquely perfect in our own strange kind of ways. Sure, we might have faults; we see them well, we deal with them constantly, and we pray over and over for forgiveness; but He sees us, not for what we are currently dealing with, not for the failures, and not in our sins; He sees these beautiful fruits of His labor, created by what He dealt with, and by which, all is already forever forgiven! 

  This is not the work of you and I; we could never ever do anything to create this kind of paradise! To put that in the proper perspective, Matthew Henry says, "The Old-Testament church was a garden enclosed by the partition wall of the ceremonial law. The Bible was then a spring shut up and a fountain sealed; it was confined to one nation; but now the wall of separation is removed, the gospel preached to every nation, and in Jesus Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew." "The products of this garden. It is as the garden of Eden, where the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, Gen. 2:9." 

  Yes, this is His-Story well written and filled with all sorts of adventure! But no matter what seems like it is out of order or is seemingly unexpected, nothing is outside of God's knowledge or knowing. He knows the beginning to the end! Nothing gets by Him, and nothing is going to take Him by surprise...

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:5-6)