Isaiah 5:1–7 ‘Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.’ (v2)
When the prophet Isaiah shared a story about a vineyard, God’s people would have been familiar with the effort required to plant a fruitful one – the need to choose the location, to clear the stones and stack them into protective walls, to plant the prized vines.
As the Israelites engaged with his story, they would have felt shocked to hear that they were the vine that produced the bad grapes. And that the Lord would therefore destroy this vineyard.
We don’t like to hear about God’s anger today, instead preferring to emphasise His promises of love, grace and peace.
We might imply that the New Testament removes the need for God’s judgment. But though we can be forgiven, God is grieved by our sins.
Such as our hard hearts that can’t be moved to reach out to our hurting neighbour. Our bitterness over past wrongs that we can’t seem to shake.
Our angry tirade of words spewed out over those whom we love most. Our pride; our gluttony; our half-truths and lies.
All are weeds that we need to pull or they will suffocate our vine and make our grapes sour. As we figuratively take the Lord’s hand and yank them out, one by one, He will graft our branches more closely to His vine.
He will renew our soil, giving us the nutrients and moisture that we need to flourish. He will make us to produce sweet fruit.
May God reveal any weeds we are allowing in our soul, that He as the Master Gardener would prune what is rotten to release what is good.
A Prayer To Make:
‘Father God, when we consider the fallen state of the world around us, and our deceitful hearts, we grieve. Bring us hope and repentance this day. Amen.’
An Action To Take:
If you can, find a place with many plants and trees. Try to distinguish what is a weed and what is not, and ask God to show you the weeds and plants in your heart.
Scripture To Consider:
Jer. 2:20–22; Mic. 4:2–5; Gal. 1:6–10; 1 Pet. 1:13–16
