Thursday, July 2, 2015

He’s waiting for a harvest of sweet grapes

Thursday 7-2-15 (Home in Modesto)
Scripture reading:  Isaiah 4-5     Ps 115-116     Jude


S.  Isa 5:1-2  My beloved has a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.  He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with choice vines.  In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.  Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, butNLT


O.  These first chapters of Isaiah are filled with condemnation and judgment directed at God’s chosen, but wayward people, the Israelites.  It is not that they are worse than other nations, but it is that He has poured out His divine blessing upon them, trained them, cultivated them and loved them, but they have abandoned His kindness and failed to produce good fruit.


A.  So we sit back, nod our heads and say, Amen, to these words without realizing that God has written this in His book for us… not just for the Israelites of their day, not just for nations to take notice… but for me personally.  I have been a pampered child from birth, enjoying the benefits of fervent Christian parents that applied strict discipline.  I have been surrounded by loving people in good churches.  I have been raised under some of the finest of preachers of the Word.  God has plowed my life, cleared away stony obstacles, planted good seed in the soil of my life… and now He is waiting for good fruit.  I must not disappoint my Savior.

P.  Blessed Lord, I first must thank You for my heritage!  If You chose Israel and planned to use that nation, You also chose me with a plan to use my life.  I have no right, nor desire to choose my own pathway.  You have placed me in Your garden for a divine purpose.  May my eyes be open and my ears attentive to Your guidance!  May my feet be shod and ready to march in the center of Your will!  And one day, very soon, when You visit Your vineyard, may You find an abundant harvest of sweet grapes!  Amen.


Rafael


No comments:

Post a Comment