God's Hope for Us
Bob Wickizer
Isaiah 5:1-7
We had a wonderful Vacation Bible School this week. Our numbers are small right now, but the Spirit is alive and moving through us. The children have a terrific time and a lot of what they learn is the love of God that is tangibly present through all the adults present. It is from the love of parents and their close community of friends that children learn about God's love. Some of the hallmarks of love that we don't talk about very much are patience and forbearance.
Travel with me back to Isaiah's time and let us imagine what it is like to plant and nurture a vineyard like the prophet's description. Let us put ourselves in the role of an ancient near-eastern landowner who wants to make wine. First Isaiah was written around 500 BC. From other sources we know that winemaking was in full swing by the time of King David five centuries earlier. From Greece all the way around to modern day Syria and Lebanon, the best (that is, the sweetest) grapes had been cross bred and cultivated for winemaking. Cuttings from these plants were treasured. If you wanted to start a vineyard, you had to get some cuttings from someone. You put all your cuttings in a nursery box and a year goes by while some of them take root.
During that year you select your site, clear the land, hire laborers to build a stone fence around it high enough to keep the antelope out. They can jump over six feet so your crew is building a wall that most people cannot see over. The best vineyards grow in rocky soil. You learned that from the guy who sold you the cuttings. Now you set your crew to digging holes about a foot deep and half that around. It is tough digging with those ancient tools. While this is happening, in your mind's eye (or really your mind's taste), you can savor the wine you sampled from the guy who sold you the cuttings.
The following spring you put those rooted cuttings into their holes in the vineyard. Beside each plant you had to ...
Bob Wickizer
Isaiah 5:1-7
We had a wonderful Vacation Bible School this week. Our numbers are small right now, but the Spirit is alive and moving through us. The children have a terrific time and a lot of what they learn is the love of God that is tangibly present through all the adults present. It is from the love of parents and their close community of friends that children learn about God's love. Some of the hallmarks of love that we don't talk about very much are patience and forbearance.
Travel with me back to Isaiah's time and let us imagine what it is like to plant and nurture a vineyard like the prophet's description. Let us put ourselves in the role of an ancient near-eastern landowner who wants to make wine. First Isaiah was written around 500 BC. From other sources we know that winemaking was in full swing by the time of King David five centuries earlier. From Greece all the way around to modern day Syria and Lebanon, the best (that is, the sweetest) grapes had been cross bred and cultivated for winemaking. Cuttings from these plants were treasured. If you wanted to start a vineyard, you had to get some cuttings from someone. You put all your cuttings in a nursery box and a year goes by while some of them take root.
During that year you select your site, clear the land, hire laborers to build a stone fence around it high enough to keep the antelope out. They can jump over six feet so your crew is building a wall that most people cannot see over. The best vineyards grow in rocky soil. You learned that from the guy who sold you the cuttings. Now you set your crew to digging holes about a foot deep and half that around. It is tough digging with those ancient tools. While this is happening, in your mind's eye (or really your mind's taste), you can savor the wine you sampled from the guy who sold you the cuttings.
The following spring you put those rooted cuttings into their holes in the vineyard. Beside each plant you had to ...
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