"A New Song of New Growth!"

Scripture Passage

Isaiah 24:1-27:13; Isaiah 29:1-24

Scripture Focus

“In that day,
     sing about the fruitful vineyard.”
                       (Isaiah 27:2 NLT)

Observation

Isaiah 27:2 makes me wish I were a *real* musician.

Today’s passage is predominately one of judgment—all the nations of the world…more than that, the globe itself…suffering necessary judgment for the sins of its inhabitants.

The earth staggers like a drunk.
     It trembles like a tent in a storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
     for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.
                               (Isaiah 24:20 NLT)

But like the sun peeking through on an overcast day, there are glimpses of a remnant restored—the promise of God’s people once again enjoying God’s blessing. One of the sweetest glimpses of sunshine shows up in Isaiah 27:1-6, where Israel is pictured as a vineyard which the Lord himself shall tend, with the result that…

…Jacob’s descendants will take root.
        Israel will bud and blossom
        and fill the whole earth with fruit!
                           (Isaiah 27:6 NLT)

And the instruction is to "…sing about the fruitful vineyard!”

It does make me want to sing! It makes me wish I were capable of writing a song that would express the wonder of God’s grace…the wonder of God’s restoration…the wonder that—even as He brings necessary judgment—He is already planting by his Word the promise of new life…new growth…new and bountiful fruitfulness!

How easily…how thoughtlessly…I seek to reject or postpone the judgment of God.  But “the Lord disciplines those he loves…” (Hebrews 12:6 NIV) “ “Now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens’…so that what cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27 NIV).

Lord, grant that I do not resist your judgments…your necessary pruning and shaking…that the growth towards new fruitfulness might begin!

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