Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+005

Chapter 5 (ESV)

1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
² He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵ And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
⁶ I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!

REFLECTION:

1. Read this passage slowly as if you were with the owner in the vineyard. Notice the care that was lavished on the vineyard, the sweat, the hard labour, and the anticipation.  Then go with the owner at harvest time, and observe the owner’s dismay when the product was only evil-smelling, bitter, wild grapes.
2. In which ways has God lavished his care on you? Was it a bumper crop?  Or a bitter harvest?  How is God’s work in you similar to that of the vineyard owner?
3. God calls you to respond to him. Pray for one specific sweet fruit to grow in your life.

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

HYMN:

More Like Jesus – youtu.be/chbMVsgGbgs