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RENDEZVOUS

Lessons from the Garden

by Dr. Anita Wallace, Ashburn, Virginia, friend of the Mission

Bindweed. I hate it. It looks innocent enough, even attractive, with a white, trumpet-shaped flower like a wild morning glory. Unfortunately my front garden is infested with it. If I turn my back for a few days it will cover my azaleas and hollies and everything else in its path. I can’t spray it with weed killer because it is so intimately entwined around my ornamentals. Sometimes I grab great handfuls of it and pull it off the tougher plants, which always lose a few leaves in the process. On the more delicate plants I have to carefully unwrap it from the stems so that I don’t uproot my lavender or mums with it. No matter how much I pull up I know it will be back, because there is a network of roots deep underground that I cannot reach.

Our Sunday evening ladies Bible study has been working through Isaiah 61:1-4. Verse 3 contains the phrase, "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of His splendor." The Lord really touched my heart with this verse. In my prayer time I cried out to God, "O God, I want to be an oak of righteousness, to display Your splendor, but I feel more like poison ivy because of my sin. No, not poison ivy, bindweed!"

Immediately I heard God say, "No. My child. You are an oak of righteousness. The bindweed is the sin in your life. The sins you’ve committed and the sins done to you." He went on to show me that I had once been completely covered in the densest bindweed, to the point that I nearly smothered. Then Christ came and began the labor of removing the choking weed from me. Sometimes He grabbed great handfuls of the stuff and ripped it off. I felt like I was losing parts of myself and it hurt. Even forgiven sin leaves scars! At other times the gentle, nail-scarred hands of Jesus carefully unwrapped the weeds from around the tender places so no permanent damage would be done.

Now God sees me as weed free, even though I know that the roots of the foul weed are still present. If I am not consistent in turning everything in my life over to Christ, in taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, the weeds can grow again. I must willfully invite the Master Gardener to search me and know me, to uproot every little evil sprout that pops its head above the soil. Praise be to God, who has delivered me from the penalty of sin, is constantly delivering me from the power of sin, and will one day in glory deliver me forever from the presence of sin!