Isaiah 5:1-7 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 5:1-7 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 5Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. Verse 2He 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; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. Verse 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. Verse 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? Verse 5And 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. Verse 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Verse 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
Devotion
When you’ve tried everything you can, cried and pleaded and threatened and prayed and cried some more, but nothing changes the hard spot you’re in, what do you do? Sometimes you get to a point where enough is enough. Sometimes parents have to show tough love to their rebellious teenager. Sometimes a addict’s family has to stage an intervention. Sometimes the tumultuous marriage reaches the breaking point.
The vineyard owner has had enough. He has done everything he can do to coax forth life from his land, but sees only barren ground. What should he do? Isaiah warns the people that their barren faith will lead to their destruction. But will it be enough to change them?
Is there ever a time when God, the owner of the vineyard, tells us, “Enough is enough”? What will we do with that warning?
Prayer
Lord, have mercy on those people facing 'enough' in their lives. And have mercy on me, when my faith life is barren like that vineyard. Amen.