We at no time can fully comprehend the character of God. The depths of His perfection simply go beyond our finite comprehension. And even still, God, throughout the course of history, has shown a longing for the heart of man. He referred to Moses as a friend, Abraham as a covenant partner, and David as a man after His heart. He came as the Bridegroom and fashioned His bride, the church, in the same way that He fashioned Eve from Adam at the dawn of time. And at the passover celebration, the last meal with His disciples, the one whom He loved laid upon His bosom. Commending Mary for pouring precious perfume at His feet, He later turned to clean the feet of those who would deny Him. And though He knew the failures of all of these clouds of witnesses, He continues to ravish the heart of man with His love.
This never-ending aspect of God's character plunges the heart of a child of God into a true love of the Beloved. In the omniscience of God, the child of God sees the love and grace of God. For what greater love can be shown but that someone would die for another while they yet were in filth? And go so far as to trade that garment of iniquity for ones whiter than wool? That He Himself would strip us of the old and wash them in crimson so that they come out white. The crazy part of all of this? He knew it all from the dawn of creation! He knew of my own failures of yesterday, tomorrow, and the ones I fail in by any false teachings that my finite mind presents in writing about the immaculateness of who He is in this present moment. He knew them all, yet He still chose to go through with the washing away to make us new!
And to plunge us deeper still into knowing Him and truly failing in love with Him, He beckons us to cultivate the relationship with Him. Tend and keep...Adam and Eve lived in perfect conditions, yet God still instructed them to tend and keep (cultivate and guard) the land. Why else would these perfect conditions need cultivation and guarding unless they too were susceptible to deterioration?
The process of cultivation includes putting something through a finishing process. Eden, in its splendor and beauty, still needed the cultivation of the finishing process. Cultivation includes every aspect of this finishing process, from plowing to reaping. This includes preparing and plowing the land, fertilizing the ground, planting the seeds, all of the processes towards promoting growth, such as weeding, watering, and pruning, and finally, reaping the harvest. Adam did not have to toil through this work, since the curse brought on the sweat of the face, but God still instructed Adam and Eve to tend and keep the land of Eden.
This same process of cultivating and guarding the land applies in the spiritual realm of things. Intercessory prayer over the land prepares and plows the ground. Living out Christ's love in the market place of our world fertilizes the ground. Walking in a lifestyle of fasting, love, and acts of justice, along with the proclamation and living out of the Word of God, plants the seeds. Discipleship, accountability, adherence to the truth, communion of the saints, and continued love promotes growth. And the fruits that even more come to the knowledge of God by seeing and the souls brought into the family represent the reaping of the harvest. All along the way, however, only God, through His triune nature, causes anything to grow; therefore, only God, above all else, receives every bit of the glory. All for the glory of God!
And within this depth of the omniscience of God, one can find that, although He knows every aspect of who we are and when we will fail, He continues to cultivate the lives of His children because He knows that only when we abide in Him can we produce fruit. Apart from God, we can do nothing; In God, we bear much fruit. Therefore, through the tender love of the Vinedresser, who is the Father, God cultivates us into abiding in the Vine, who is the Son, so that we bear much fruit for the glory of God.
But not only does God cultivate us as branches of the True Vine, but He also beckons for us to tend and keep with the same fervor, if not more intense, as Adam and Eve received in the perfect conditions of the garden of Eden. Without the cultivation of our relationship with God and the plunging into of the knowledge of who He is, we too have the natural tendency to deteriorate. Hear these words out: "not of works, lest anyone should boast," but a certain zeal must go into the devotion of our lives for the sake of the Kingdom and glory of God.
After all, Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow Him, and later gives us the instruction that we will overcome by not loving our lives unto the death. And as His bride, the Bridegroom expects us to have oil in our lamps at the time of His return for the marriage feast. In order to muster up enough oil for the delayed return of the Bridegroom for His virgin bride, we must cultivate enough oil for not only today, but in abundance for the times to come.
We cry out to go deeper, but the Spirit and the bride say "Come!" The question remains, will we wait for passion to push us into seeking the face of God, or will we passionately cultivate love for God, no matter what the circumstance, by seeking His face? God explains clearly to His chosen people in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that the way to revival only comes by calling on His name, humbling ourselves, praying and seeking His face, and turning from our wicked ways. All of this in a nutshell? Cultivation of the romance and love of the Beloved.
So, plunging deeper into the knowledge of God and the character of who He is, the wellspring of His omniscience, that in no way hinders Him from loving us, should ravish our hearts and romance our depths in a way that no lover could ever come close to. He is the Bridegroom and we, as the church and people of God, are His bride. Oh what a glorious day when the holy city descends as a bride adorned for her husband! May we cultivate a deeper love for the Beloved in the secret place so that a cultivation of the land for revival happens in a natural response to living for and loving the Bridegroom!
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