Well Fenced, Well Watered and High Yielding Gardens

UV 1674/10000 Well Fenced, Well Watered and High Yielding Gardens.
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Song of Solomon 4 v 12

The believers taken together or as a collectivity are called the spouse or bride of Christ. We are in covenant relationship with the Lord even as a man is bonded to his wife. Each believer is also described as an enclosed garden. Indeed, we are a fenced garden and a well watered garden for our souls are the source of the eternal water of life that is always bubbling up like a hidden spring. All our fountains or all that gives us strength, hope and joy lie in Him. He is the source of our hidden strength, our resources, our provision, our blessings, our protection, our health, peace, prosperity and happiness. We are not growing wild and untended. We are a planting of the Lord to reveal His splendour. He is the spring of Shalom that never goes dry. When we are a well fenced garden, a well watered garden, we become a garden that yields many perfumed flowers, spices and fruit.

When I joined my first job with a large bank, I was posted in a hill station called Madikeri, the capital of the hill district Coorg. Every day almost on the way back I would stop at the beautiful garden with a panoramic view of the valleys below called Raja Seat. It was the garden of the king of Coorg or the Raja where he used to come for a daily walk and sit there to enjoy the view. Likewise, we are the garden of the King of Kings. But we are not just visited once in a way or once in a day but He dwells with us. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit so that rivers of life giving water flow from our hearts, rivers of love, joy and peace.

To be well fenced, we need to be in constant communication with the Lord through the Word and in prayer. A fence has many posts or pillars positioned at equal intervals and barbed wire tied between these posts. The pillars are the promises of God that give us hope and grace to stay close and victorious in life. The barbed wire that run across between the posts are rules of living or principles we derive from the Word that guide our thoughts, decisions, actions and reaction. They are barbed as even if we break these commandments and violate these principles, we will be hurt. Like the barbed wire of fencing, our obedience should run continuously without break or weakness across the length and width of the fencing. We have to mind the gaps and close it quickly whenever the Spirit points out a weak, loose or broken area of our inner life. With this kind of close fencing, we will not now be plundered by predators, foxes, rodents and visited by snakes and scorpions. We will be the home to doves, beautiful birds and butterflies. To be well watered, we need to constantly imbibe and meditate on the Word. To be yielding the best of flowers, spice and fruit, we need to be obedient to the Word and the move of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The question may be asked which is the most vital: the fencing, the watering or the yielding. Fencing is essential to survive, the watering is essential to thrive and yielding flower, spice and fruit is essential to fulfill the purpose. Every human being has this triune purpose-to survive, to thrive and to yield. To survive, we need protection. to thrive, we need to consume. To yield or serve, we need to produce. The faithful unlike the fittest not only survive but also thrive ahd serve.

Prateep V Philip