I remember sitting at Bible study as my friend taught Isaiah 51. This verse struck a chord with me—
The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord…(Isaiah 51:3). 

The idea of the Lord making wastelands into gardens really stuck out to me. But my life was pretty lovely at the time. I was in a season of ease and abundance. I tucked those words away in my heart but they didn’t impact me very deeply. 

Fast forward a few years and I was in a very different place. My life had completely fallen apart. I lost my marriage, my home, my church, my financial security. All of it was a big pile of ash. I was genuinely sitting in a wasteland, surrounded by all the broken pieces of my easy and beautiful life. 

This verse came back to mind and it fell fresh on my heart. What a profound picture God has painted in his word! The Israelites were in exile when these words were penned for them. Imagine hearing that promise—I will comfort you. I will look with compassion on your ruins. I will make this wasteland into a garden as beautiful as Eden. 

For someone as desperate as me, these words feel like life and water for my weary soul. He is the God who restores. He looks with comfort and compassion on the destitute. He sets to work as only he can. He doesn’t toss out the ashes and start over…they are the very material, the fertile ground in which seeds of redemption sprout. He restores the broken. He mends the pieces long cast out. 

The Lord restores—not only to bring beauty—but fruit and purpose. He doesn’t turn the wastelands into a memorial, but a garden! Gardens are useful. They nourish and add value. Gardens bear seed and bring forth fruit. Gardens are alive with new growth and bloom. 

God sees the wasteland your life has become. He looks with compassion and offers comfort to you. And as he sets to work, bringing life to places long dead, one day, “joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song” (Is 51:3). He is not finished with you yet, dear friend. One day, life will come from this ash heap. Hallelujah, what a Savior!