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Graves Into Gardens — an evaluation

“Graves Into Gardens” is a song written by Brandon Lake, Chris Brown, Steven Furtick, and Tiffany Hudson, and it was performed by Elevation Worship and Brandon Lake. The song was released as a single in 2020 before being released as a part of Elevation Worship’s album “Graves Into Gardens” that same year. It won the 2021 Billboard Music Award for Top Christian Song and won the GMA Dove Award for Worship Recorded Song of the Year, as well as being nominated for the Song of the Year Award.

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In a “Behind the Song” interview, Chris Brown and Brandon Lake describe how the song was born out of a sermon that Elevation Church’s Pastor Steven Furtick was preaching one Sunday, which is where many of their songs are born from. The sermon was titled “The Mystery of Potential” and Furtick was preaching on the story of Elisha’s death in 2 Kings 13:20–21. In this passage, Elisha dies and is buried. Some Israelites were in the process of burying a man and saw a Moabite raiding party approaching. Quickly, they threw the dead man into Elisha’s tomb. 2 Kings says that “When he touched Elisha’s bones, the man revived and stood up!” (CSB). Brown recounts that Furtick described this as God turning what people believed to be a grave into a garden, because new life sprang up and grew forth. He says that this is also seen in Jesus’ death and resurrection — the disciples in grief buried Jesus in the grave. What they thought was the end, God knew was the beginning because Jesus rose from the grave three days later victorious over death! Brown said the message of this song is that:

Elisha still had a resurrection miracle left in his bones, and God is still in the business of bringing dead things back to life. If we’ll trust God even with the seemingly dead areas of our lives, if we’ll believe in the power of God, if we’ll declare resurrection power over everything we sow, nothing will be wasted.

Tiffany Hudson, a cowriter on “Graves into Gardens”, said this of the message behind the song:

“Graves Into Gardens” is a testimony song to the power and authority of our God. It’s a song that very confidently declares how faithful He is to each of us. There’s moments we can all experience in life where we find ourselves having a funeral for dreams that we once really believed in.

“Graves Into Gardens” is filled with powerful declarations about who God is and what He has done. Verses 1 and 2 say:

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 Your love

Scripture is filled with descriptions of how we can be satisfied in nothing else except God alone and to search for satisfaction anywhere else will leave us dry and empty (Psalm 107:9, Psalm 37:4, The Woman at the Well — John 4). However, I would be hesitant to say “every desire is now satisfied here in your love” without explanation. There are fleshly passions and desires that are wrong that will not be fulfilled because they go against what God calls us to. As believers we need to understand, that as we are formed by relationship with God, our desires are refashioned and shaped by the Holy Spirit to be in line with the desires of God for our lives. Therefore, in God all desires that are good and pleasing to Him and in line with His Will are satisfied.

Then, the Chorus proclaims:

Oh, there’s nothing better than You There’s nothing better than You Lord, there’s nothing Nothing is better than You

This statement could not be truer. Jeremiah 10:6 says “Lord, there is no one like you. You are great; your name is great in power” (CSB). In Matthew 19:17, Jesus replies to a man, “There is only One who is good” — referring to God (CSB). Exodus 34:6–7 describes God as “a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin” (CSB). But He is not just gracious and loving, He acts in judgment promising that “he will not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:7b). All of these attributes of God and descriptions of Him are reminders to us that there truly is nothing better than Him. No one else is perfect in judgment and faithful in love. No one else grants us forgiveness for our sins and pays the debt we could not pay. There is nothing better than the LORD!

Verses 3 and 4 then describe:

I‘m not afraid To show You my weakness My failures and flaws Lord, You’ve seen ’em 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

Again we see a description of the faithful love of our God. Psalm 139 says “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away… Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I go from your presence?” (vv. 1–2, 7 CSB). We see here how deeply the Father knows us and still we see in Romans 8 that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (vv. 38–39 CSB). In all seasons and moments, we are fully known and fully loved by God and his grace is continuously extended towards us.

Finally, the Bridge declares:

You turn mourning to dancing You give beauty for ashes You turn shame into glory You’re the only one who can

You turn graves into garden You turn bones into armies You turn seas into highways You’re the only one who can You’re the only one who can

These phrases are filled with rich imagery from Scripture about the redemptive power that is only found in Jesus Christ. Each phrase describes something that God does that seems impossible, but in His power He alone is able to accomplish. He is the only one who can! In Psalm 30:11, David describes how God has “turned [his] lament into dancing; [God] removed [his] sackcloth and clothed [him] with gladness” (CSB). The phrase “beauty for ashes” is a reference to Isaiah 61 which describes the purpose of the Messiah’s coming. We see here that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to “bring good news to the poor,” “heal the brokenhearted,” “proclaim liberty to the captives,” and “provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes” among many other things (vv. 1, 3). In Zephaniah 3:19, we see that God promises He will “make those who were disgraced throughout the earth recieve praise and fame” (CSB). He will turn what was shameful into glory! Graves into gardens references any time in scripture where God took something that was dead and buried and breathed new life into it. Probably the best example of this is in Jesus Christ and now everyone who believes in Him! All of us were destined for the grave and now, through Jesus Christ, we get to experience eternal life in the presence of God! Turning bones into armies is a reference to the “Valley of Dry Bones” chronicled in Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel sees a vision of a valley full of dry bones that God then breathes life into. These bones come together and become an army, pointing to how God would restore Israel and eventually how He would restore all of mankind. Finally, the seas into highways is a reference to both the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River in the Old Testament. In both of these occasions, the Lord parted the waters so that His people could cross on dry land. The Lord really is the only one who can complete these miracles!!

In conclusion, “Graves Into Gardens” is a powerful declaration as a congregation about the power of God and His faithfulness. It is an easy to sing song and the melody is simple to learn. The fun drum beats are engaging and catchy, inviting the congregation to engage in the worship of God vocally and physically. I think this song includes powerful truths to remind our congregations of and it is saturated in the rich history of God’s faithfulness to His people throughout all generations. My one hesitation of this song is that it at times can toe the line of a prosperity gospel. While God is more than capable of completing these miracles, it is good that we remind ourselves that He completes miracles in line with His perfect will. To assume that just because God can do these things that means He will do them is to assume that you know best. God delights in giving His children good gifts so we should not hesistate to ask Him, but we need to surrender in the asking, trusting that even if God does not act in the way we want Him to, that He is still good and we can trust in Him.