FEBRUARY 18

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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James 5:7

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

Genesis 8:22

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

John 15:1

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”

2 Timothy 2:6

“The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.”

Genesis 1:11

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”

Ezekiel 17:8

“It was planted in good soil by many waters, To bring forth branches, bear fruit, And become a majestic vine.”

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Our book for this month  is called “100 NAMES OF GOD”  written by Christopher D. Hudson.  Each day we’ll take one Hebrew name for God as given in the Bible to study and relate to.

GEORGOS

THE GARDENER (“HUSBANDMAN”)

“Gardener” is not a title we typically use to refer to God (even though there is a LOT of agricultural imagery in the Bible).  But that’s how the Scriptures portray Him, and that’s what Jesus called Him.  And with good reason.

Human history began in the garden in Genesis chapters 1-3.  It’s there in a lush place called Eden that God met with His human creatures and instructed them to cultivate and care for His creation.

When sin entered the world, God’s garden was ruined and access to Eden was lost. What did God do?  He instituted an epic plan to restore His garden paradise.

Throughout the events described in the rest of the Bible, God farmed.   He carefully and patiently grew a nation, in much the same way one would grow crops.  God, in a sense, sowed seed.  He planted and watered.  He mended and tended.  He replanted and transplanted.  He pruned and fertilized.  He drove away “pests.”  He uprooted and shored up.

When God sent His son into the world to defeat Satan, sin and death, it’s in a garden – Gethsemane – that Jesus overcame the evil one.  It’s also from a garden tomb that Jesus emerged victorious over death.

In the final three chapters of the Bible, we read about a new creation – new heavens and a new earth.  It is a place that restores the perfection once found in the Garden of Eden.

Meanwhile, in a world still feeling the effects of sin, the divine Gardener works.  By His grace, and through our faith, He grafts us into Christ, the true vine, the source of life. 

We’re just branches, but as we stay firmly attached to Him, we grow and bear life-giving fruit.  At times God props us up or trims us back so that we’ll be even more fruitful.

Our job is not to worry about dirt or fertilizer or where other plants are located, or what fruit they’re producing.  Our job is simply to respond to the Gardener’s care – and grow!

Describe some of the ways God has tended your life as the Master Gardener.

PRAYER

Lord, I surrender my life to you.  Please plant me where you want.  Make me beautiful and fruitful in your garden.  Amen.

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