Daily Scripture Reading: Isaiah 27:2-3 KJV
Isaiah 27:2-3 KJV
(2) In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
(3) I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
Today’s Devotional Is THE GARDEN OF OUR SOUL
THE VINEYARD with its Divine Keeper. The Vineyard is a metaphor for God’s children who have been redeemed by Him. Our Lord also made references to the Vineyard in Mat_21.33-41 and John 15. God our Father is the Husbandman, or Keeper. He watches, waters, and protects us all. His anger is not against us but against our sins. He is always fighting with them, just like the gardener digging up the weeds to burn in the bonfire.
Our only hope is God’s instant-by-moment love and care for us. The soil becomes hard and inaccessible as the dry winds of the world strip away the tender verdure that is our inner life. While we wither and shrivel under the sun of wealth, God is always seeking to provide water for us.
Sometimes it’s by the mist – “There went up a cloud of mist from the Earth, and watered all the land” (Gen_2 :6). It was like this in Eden. These mists help us to soften: the mystery of life, its inevitability, our feeling of impotence, ignorance, the withdrawal from our loved ones within the envelopment, the strange sense that the unknowable enigma–these are just a few of the many mists that can affect our character.
Sometimes the dew–“I’ll be like the dew unto Israel.” Clear nights are when the air stores its moisture as dewdrops. It is so beautiful in spring! It is abundant in the tropics, so Gideon was able wring water from the fleece he had spread. It is so gentle that it doesn’t break any flower stalks, no matter how fragile they may be. The gracious influence of the Holy Spirit brings joy to our souls, and it also refreshes us. We don’t know how or from where, but His loving care makes us sweeter, more gentle, and more tender. The heat doesn’t exhaust, but the sun doesn’t scorch us.
Let us be in holy fellowship with God, in His antagonism towards all that is unworthy or evil in our lives. We will then blossom and buds, and become His pleasant vine; and the world will be full of refreshing fruit. “Thou shall be like a well-watered garden.” “By their fruits, ye will know them.”
PRAYER for Today
We must not lose the beauty, fertility, and freshness that Thou canst keep in hearts which are open for Thee, O Heavenly Father. May we all be like a well-watered garden. AMEN.