The time is coming when my people will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole earth with her fruit! - Isaiah 27:6
After fencing his vineyard, Yahweh did everything necessary to ensure good fruit, including planting the fertile soil with “choice vines” (Isaiah 5:2). But God’s chosen ones became a wild vine; because Israel did not obey (Isaiah 5:5-6). But God also promised that he would preserve the few who believed. From the remnant of faithful people would come the choicest of vines—Jesus Christ. The Savior used this vineyard metaphor in the Gospels, saying, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).
Do you realize you have been grafted into the choicest vine? Jesus is the Vine, and you are a cherished branch. His Father is your Father and mine—the Gardener. The fruit of his Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) will grow within us as we let Christ fill us. When we abide in the Vine, God develops his character in us by pruning, tending, feeding, watering, and nurturing us so that we, in turn, may care for others. It is not always pleasant to be pruned, but it is necessary. Sometimes God prunes our life by cutting “deadwood” out of us—the deadwood of wrong relationships, an evil habit, or even sheer laziness. Once he is finished with his pruning, the buds and blossoms can flourish and bear fruit. Fruit hangs on the outside of the tree—displaying the tree’s nature, enhancing the tree’s beauty, and refreshing those who partake of it. When we are inwardly submissive, we are outwardly obedient—and a hungry world is glad!
For Further Study: Isaiah 27:2-13
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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