Trouble in the Vineyard Emily Given
From the beginning, God spoke.
God spoke creation into being.
The people created by God spread across the face of the earth exploring and learning what it was to be alive.
God loved the people and made promises to them. God showed them ten ways to live a good life and led them to a land intended for their own.
Life wasn't always easy. Sometimes the people forgot the promises of God. God would remind them.
God sent judges, and kings.
When God saw the people still did not understand, God sent prophets.
The job of a prophet was to listen deeply to what God was speaking, then tell everyone the words from God's heart. Often, the words were hard to accept and difficult to understand.
In order to help God's people, prophets told simple stories about everyday things in order to explain bigger stories about very important situations.
Isaiah was one of those prophets.
God knew the people were frustrated, lonely, and afraid so Isaiah told them a story. It was a message from God to help them remember who they were.
My Loved One had a vineyard. He dug the ground and cleared it of stones and weeds so the very best grape vines could be planted. He tended to the vineyard with love and care.
My Loved One built a wall and a wine press. He did everything to prepare for a harvest of delicious grapes.
But the grapes were wild and bitter.
The prophet Isaiah told God's people what the story meant. God was sending them an important message.
God had done everything to make the people prosper but they had not been listening to God or obeying God's ways.
Isaiah had a hard message to tell them.
God had spoken. The walls of the vineyard would be torn down. The vines would be left to grow wild. Thorns would grow up all around and no water would fall to the ground,
But what did this mean?
Isaiah told God's people directly so they would not be confused. The Loved One was God. The vineyard was the House of Israel. The vines were God's people, the people of Judah, living in Jerusalem. God expected the people to seek justice and righteousness but the people were violent and wicked.
God used the prophet Isaiah to remind the people about the right way to live. Kindness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Justice. Trust. That was the way to live a life with God.
And so it is with us. Let us grow strong in the word of God so that our lives may be fruitful and remind others of the greatness of God.
Images:
Cover - The Vineyard by Unknown Source: Google Images Page 1 - Hourglass by Unknown Source: Google Images Page 2 - Mother Earth by Wolfgram Studios Page 3 - New Earth by Mike Moyers Page 4 - Praise the Lord by Deborah Nell Page 5 - The Hikers by Rashid Johnson Page 6 - Open Mouth by Alex Montaner Page 7 - Dancer by Yorum Raanan Page 8 & 20 - The Prophetic by Unknown Page 9 - Sexy Successful Open Minded. by Jodi Ohl Page 10 - A109 by Ksavera Page 11 - Wine Country by Loralee Chapleau Page 12 - Stone Wally by Linda Halcomb Page 13 - Vineyard by D. Oberling Page 14 - The Crowd by Susan Porter Page 15 - Vineyard Painting by Loralee Chapleau Page 16 - Black Tree by Erik Tanghe Page 17 - Chaos by Gao Page 18 - Unknown Title by Loralee Chapleau Page 19 - Exodus by Leslie Anne Cornish
Isaiah 5:1-7