Articles
Planting A Garden
Have you ever planted a garden? If so, I’m sure you bought the best plants, made sure your soil was perfect, got the best fertilizer, and watered it whenever it needed it. I’m sure after you invested all that time, money and energy you expected the plants to turn out perfect, right? Well, what if they didn’t?
In Isaiah 5 a similar scenario is explained. This chapter starts out describing a man who planted a vineyard and invested a lot into the vineyard. “Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it; then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones.” (Isaiah 5:1-2)
This is much like the illustration we started off with, but now let’s see the comparison Isaiah was making when he told this parable. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done with it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?” (Isaiah 5:3-4)
Now we can see that Israel is the vineyard, and God is the planter. He had done so much for Israel: from bringing them out of Egypt with the ten plagues, raising up the waters of the Red Sea, leading them through the wilderness for forty years, and then into the Promised Land. But now despite all that, they had continued to worship idols. Despite all the investments God had made in them, they were worthless grapes.
But what about us? No, we haven’t been through the things that Israel was brought through, but none of us would doubt that God has led us through fiery trials. Are we wasting God’s investments? God has put so much in us – so many talents for us to use to the praise of His glory. And how are we using them?
Isaiah goes on to explain what God will do to Israel for being useless. “I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” (Isaiah 5:6) That definitely sounds like something I want to avoid.
Let us all be useful in God’s kingdom.
