Your Connection to Your Land

There is a connection between our land and our lives.

I got to thinking the other day that the land we live in is a reflection of our spiritual condition. Think of Adam. He was put in a beautiful garden land. Everything was provided for, he just needed to work the land. He could plant, harvest, prepare food, eat, design beautiful and functional gardens, harvest seeds for replanting, and so on. Yet once they sinned, a curse came upon them and they were driven from this beautiful land into a land that, like their spirit, was cursed.

In this new land, however, they had the opportunity to overcome. The land reflected their spiritual condition, yet it also provided an opportunity for them to overcome the physical and spiritual challenges. They had to learn to work a land that was cursed. They had to learn how to handle drought and weeds. How could they survive in this condition? They also had to learn to worship God in this place, which would be more challenging than in the beautiful garden.

In the days of the flood, God brought Noah and his family into a land--the land of the ark. The rest of the world perished in the land that came to reflect their spiritual condition--death.

God called Abram out of one land and into another. He promised him this land, yet he lived there as a foreigner, not an owner at first. Before they could enjoy ownership in the Promised Land, they had to endure a period of slavery--hard work for the benefit of another. The opposite of freedom--working to enjoy the fullness of their hard work.

When Moses led them out of Egypt, their double-mindedness and rebellion caused all but two of the original travelers to die in the wilderness. The land reflected their uncommitted condition. They wanted to follow Moses, but they wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to serve God, but they created idols.

When they did finally enter the Promised Land, it was with an army who was willing to fight for the promise and claim ownership of what God had said was rightfully theirs.

The land reflects what is going on with us spiritually. It may represent the blessings on our life, or it may by symbolic of the obstacles to those blessings. It may be a reflection of our call and destiny, or it may reveal the enemy's opposition to that call. Take a look at the land you are living in. Look at your home. Look at your surroundings. What do you see? What are the blessings. What are the problems? ask the Lord to show you how it might reflect what is going on with you spiritually.

Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He was driven to a land. This wasn't an indication of His spiritual condition, but ours. He was to die for the sin of all mankind and this land reflected that. He needed to overcome in this wild waste land.

You are in the land you are in for a reason. Where you are reflects your spiritual condition, as well as giving you opportunity to overcome the things you need to overcome in order to fulfill your destiny. Ask yourself, what kind of stuff thrives in the land you are in? What grows? What is the soil condition? What is the climate like? What is the population like? Is your house cluttered? Is your soil dry, or hard, clay, or thorny? Or is it good soil? The Lord has a purpose for you here. Ask Him to show you what it is, and how to overcome what needs to be overcome in order for you to live a flourishing life in Him.

He didn't lead you to this land to drop you off and forget you. But you need to work the land. You won't get anywhere if you sit on a rock and pout, or wonder what went wrong or what you should do. Get up and start working the land. Begin by exploring it. Start by looking at the physical place you live, your job, your surroundings, the people around you etc. Ask Him how to thrive in this land. He will show you!