Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

October 4, 2023

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved
   my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
   and people of Judah,
judge between me
   and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
   that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
   why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you
   what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
   and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
   and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed,
   and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
   that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
   is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
   are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
   but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
   but heard a cry!

God inspires a diversity of his people to meet his people where they are and where they can understand God’s ways. This poem is one such example. Gardeners can all identify with carefully tending their plants, yet they do not produce fruit.  What has interfered to cause the plants to fail? How did the world distract the house of Israel and the people of Judah to turn away from God’s care? I remember once, when I was a child living on our farm, the weather was such that our tomato plants grew strong and tall, making beautiful plants but producing no tomatoes. While we do not control the weather, we do have things that distract us from following God and ending up in chaos that traps us.  That is why it is so important to open our hearts and minds to God’s guidance and study the variety of writings that the whole Bible provides.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for sending us various messages to help us retain our life in your love.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.