“For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (Isa 51:3)
This passage does not just show God as a gardener of our lives, but also as our comforter. Our lives are spiritual gardens and God is the gardener. He changes us and comforts us so that the dry and barren soil of hearts grows into something beautiful.
The hymn Walking in the King’s Highway conveys similar messages, “Walking in the King’s highway, we shall see the desert as the rose. There’ll be singing where salvation goes. We shall see the glory of the Lord and behold the beauty of His Word. There the rain shall come upon the ground, and the springs of water will be found.”
In the Old Testament, many verses speak of thirsting for God as one thirsts for water. For example, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God” (Ps 42:1). Worshiping God is a natural part of us; because God Himself breathed the breath of life into our nostrils. If we do not seek God, then our souls will never be satisfied. John 7:38 reads, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus used living water to symbolize the promised Holy Spirit. It describes the Holy Spirit as a fountain and living water, lasting and quenching our spiritual thirst. It also pictures the fullness of life with God and the blessings that follow when we believe in Him.
The chorus of the hymn Walking in the King’s Highway says, “There’s a highway there and a way, where sorrow shall flee away, and the light shines bright as the day, walking in the King’s highway.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to keep a pure heart and walk in the King’s highway with joy? We must always cling to God, fear God, and call on the name of the Lord no matter where we go. Then we will always have the Lord Jesus to rely on in our lives and as an example to follow in our faith. This will enable us to go on a long journey of life with everything we do blessed by God.