WORSHIP REFLECTIONS are weekly devotionals based on worship songs/hymns. Our hope is that this content encourages your love and adoration of Christ Jesus as you grow in closer communion with Him through personal worship.
Maryna Yarmolenko, Worship Leader and Professor of Music in Kyiv, Ukraine, presents this worship song devotional based on the hymn "Graves Into Gardens".
The song Graves into Gardens has an intriguing title that has captured my attention.
The name of the song combines things that are a difficult combination. Let me explain. Graves represent something ugly, something that we almost never talk about in life, because they are terrifying. They bring sadness and reminders about what we have lost.
Gardens are about the opposite. There are gorgeous and beautiful. They are places where everything is filled with beauty and life.
In this song we discover an allegorical reflection of God’s action. Only he knows how to turn graves into gardens. And only he has the power and ability to turn graves into gardens. It is true. But how is it possible? What does it mean to turn graves into gardens.
During meditation about the personality of God I am trying to describe his character and actions. How did he act in history? What do we know about his deeds? Also, how does he act now? And what is he going to do in the future? And most importantly, how does he work in my life?
At the beginning of the song, the author attempts to find something that can bring comfort to his life, fill it and enrich it. But only God is able to fill life with meaning and complete joy.
So here we find the following words:
I searched the world, but it couldn’t fill me
Man’s empty praise and treasures that fade are never enough
Then You came along and put me back together
And every desire is now satisfied here in You love.
We are looking for treasures that can fill our hearts. But the only one who can give us this treasure is God. The person that has God in their life has everything.
Don’t turn your eyes upon God as just a source of blessings. He is A rich Blessing.
When he has come into our lives, blessing us with his presence, we receive silence in the middle of the storm, light in the darkness, life in death, and power in the middle of powerlessness.
Next, what we find in this song is that because God has loved me first, I shoudn’t be ashamed of my mistakes. God decided to have me as a friend and child before I even knew about him. He chose me when I was in my sin, and he redeemed me, I am his. His mercy and grace are enough to lead me and keep me close to his heart.
The following lyrics are about this:
I’m not afraid to show You my weakness
My failures and flaws Lord, You’ve seen them all
And You still call me friend.
Cause the God of the mountain is the God of the valley
There’s not a place Your mercy and grace
Won’t find me again.
There is nothing better than You. It is absolutely true.
Sometimes it seems that God is too mysterious and we cannot understand anything at all about how and what He does. It may seem that we do not know him at all. Sound familiar?
Honestly, we cannot find God or understand his acts with our own minds. We cannot imagine how he can help in hopeless situations. I would like remind us about the story of Lazarus and his resurrection…
Martha didn’t understand how Jesus was going to solve the problem with her already dead brother. One thing that she knew was that her brother was dead and lay in the grave. But God sees his own picture. He works in extraordinary ways. He is able to do impossible things. He likes to surprise us. And Jesus surprised Martha and Mary when they saw their brother Lazarus come back to life.
It was time when graves turned into gardens.
The resurrection of Lazarus was a prophetic act for future not just a local miracle.
God turns graves into gardens, as we sing in the bridge:
You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You’re the only one who can.
The mourning of Martha and Mary was turned to dancing and joy. Our mourning will also turn to dancing. God promises this, he knows how to make it possible. And He will do even more.
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You’re the only One who can.
Such a big difference between graves and gardens. Graves as a symbol of grief, death and hopelessness, and gardens as a symbol of new life, hope and beauty.
These are the acts of God to resurrect life, make the impossible possible, open the new ways in the middle of nowhere.
Yes he is only one who can.