Mensa Otabil - You are the Lord's Garden (10/19/2025)
God wants to make a beautiful thing out of your life. Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 29: I’ll raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. Ezekiel, whom God used for this prophecy, prophesied to Israel at a time of hardship, and he spoke during the time of the captivity in Babylon, about the things they were going through.
One of the things about the people of Israel when they were in captivity, especially in Babylon, was that Nebuchadnezzar had a fabulous garden. While they were slaves in oppression, the master had a fabulous garden. In this prophecy, God is saying, «I’ll raise you up as a garden.» He says, «Don’t just admire the garden of Nebuchadnezzar; I want to make your life as beautiful as those gardens.» So today, somebody probably thinks your life is not beautiful, that your life is wasted. God says, «I want to make your life beautiful. I want to raise you up in a beautiful way, in an honorable way.»
So how does God make us into a beautiful garden? First, He chooses us, just as a gardener chooses the flower he’s going to plant. God chooses us; His hand is upon you to choose you. He wants to use you; there is something beautiful about your life, something noble about your life. You may not see all the nice things in your life; you may see just slavery, rottenness, sinfulness, hardship, poverty, and fear. But God sees beauty in you, and He chooses you because He wants to do something wonderful with your life. Not only does He choose you, but He plants you. When God chooses us, He plants us; He places us in the right place, a place where we can bloom and blossom. This year, I pray that God will plant you in a habitable spot, a place where your best will show forth, a place where you will blossom, a place where you’ll flourish, a place where your best will come out. There is something in you that God wants to bring out to the notice of the world.
Then He nurtures us. Every flower goes through nature, and there will be all kinds of insects and things trying to eat up this beautiful flower. But God is the protector of the beauty He has placed in you. He’s making your life into a beautiful garden; He’s cultivating you, He’s watering your life, and sometimes even your hardship may be part of the watering. Sometimes the difficulty may be the fertilizer that God is placing in your life so that you will come out, you will shine, and you will blossom. Your true colors, your true beauty will be seen in the world. God chose you; God has planted you in the right spot. There is a place on earth where you will flourish, and God will put you there. God nurtures you, and then, after He’s done all of that, He reveals us, takes us out to make a show-off and say, «Come see my garden! Come and see this beautiful spot, come and see this beautiful flower!»
May the Lord do that with your life! May He advertise your life and the beauty that He’s working in your life, and may the world come and see the glory of God that is shining out of you. You know, today, all that you see may be the ground you’re planted in, and it’s rocky, or it’s full of fertilizer, and it doesn’t smell good and doesn’t look good, but just give the Lord time with what He’s doing in you, through you, and with you. When He is finished, you’ll be more beautiful than the gardens of Nebuchadnezzar. That’s what He’s saying to Israel, and that’s what He’s saying to you: you’ll be more beautiful than the most beautiful flowers out there because God wants to bring beauty out of your life.
Today, I pray that everything in you, all the goodness in you, all the beauty in you will flourish; that where God has planted you, He would cause you to grow in that place, and that you cause beauty to come out of your life. In Jesus' name, let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, You have planted me for beauty and honor. Let Your beauty be seen through me. In Jesus' name, Amen.»