Ezekiel 36:8-12: a reflection

8“‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. 9For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be built. 11I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”

Ezekiel addresses the mountains of Israel, which had been laid waste, desolate, stripped of people and fruit. And God speaks over that ruin a promise full of hope: But you, mountains of Israel, you shall put forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people; for behold, I am for you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And more than restored: I will make you more fruitful than before; you shall do better than at your beginnings.

Notice two things. First, that ringing phrase, I am for you. To the barren, wasted places, God does not say I am against you or I have given up on you, but I am for you. He sets himself on the side of the ruined ground, committed to its flourishing. And second, the scale of the promised restoration: not merely a return to what was, but better than at your beginnings, more fruitful than before. God's restoring is not only repair; it can surpass the original.

There is deep hope in that for the desolate places in our own lives, the areas laid waste, stripped of fruit, that feel beyond recovery. To such ground God says, I am for you. He is not merely willing to restore what was lost; he is able to make it more fruitful than before, to bring good out of the ruin that exceeds the beginning. If some part of your life feels like a wasteland, hear God's word to the mountains of Israel: I am for you; you will be fruitful again, and you will do better than at your beginnings. God restores, and his restoration can surpass what was lost.

Lord, to the desolate, wasted places you say, I am for you, and you will be more fruitful than before. Over the ruined ground in my own life, the areas stripped of fruit that feel beyond recovery, speak that word. Thank you that you are for me, not against me, and that your restoration can surpass what was lost. Make the wasteland fruitful again.