He Planted With Expectation

Good morning. Today we are in Isaiah 5:1–7.

In the past, there's been times that I have picked up one verse and connected it through different things. Definitely was like a glittery thread that I was able to pull on and see something interesting with.

But increasingly with Isaiah, I am finding that pulling one verse out, I'm missing out on the richness and fullness of the rest of the verses around it.

And today's parable of the vineyard most assuredly lands in the camp that you can't really take one verse out of it and wander away thinking you fully grasped the whole thing.

Because you could start out over at verse 1 like, "Oh wow, awesome. We're doing a love—beloved poem." And then by the time we hit verse 6 and 7, we're like, "Oh. Never mind."

But if you were to start at 6 and 7 and not look at the beginning, you're missing out on the preparation and the love.

And so I just feel like right now, this all fits so well together, and it's hard to piece it apart.

But what really stuck out to me, I think, was when the Lord, in this parable, talks about the land. He doesn't halfheartedly prepare. He prepares with expectation.

I mean, He could've just said, "Well, I got most of the rocks. You know, I cleaned up most of the ground, and I have half of a watchtower there, and, you know, I'll build that once I know what happens."

And that's not what He did.

He put in all of the preparation with the expectation there would be good grapes, that He would need a vat to go in and break down the grapes.

And gosh, as I have been stepping into this ministry of Wandering Through God's Word with Wonder and building all the things that I have built—the website, finding and creating ways to make it easy to get what I lovingly call "the thing" uploaded for you all that listen, you know, every day—I very much felt God asking me to build something.

And I have built it with an expectation, but not my expectation.

I have built it and have then worked hard and continue to sit in the thought that whether this continues to only reach 30 or 30,000, it goes out and reaches however many more, it's not my responsibility.

My responsibility is my daily obedience of getting into His Word and sharing something with you guys.

I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting that to show up this morning, but it did.

So He built with expectation.

And it makes me wonder, how often does He prepare an action, a ministry, a path for expectation, and then because of our unwillingness to step out in obedience, because we don't know the whole path, we don't know what it looks like, that we don't really finish it? We don't step out and do.

All right. Back to the text.

Can we drop into 4? And it says:

"What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones?"

And then He goes on to, just so you know what I did—all the preparation. It grew something worthless. I am going to tear it down. I am going to remove all the protection I put into this. I am going to let nature take it all over.

In verse 6 He says:

"I will lay it to waste."

I'm sorry, "I will lay it waste."

And He ends verse 6 with:

"I will also command the clouds not to rain on it."

Ouch.

And then in verse 7 He says, you know, I planted Judah, and Israel is My delightful plant, and yet I got bloodshed. I didn't get what I was expecting.

Well, so what stood out to you?

Have you had things where God has asked you to and not, and then seeing that thing laid to waste?

I understand that that is not what this is talking about and that we are going a little bit further than what the Scripture is saying because we are talking about the judgment of Judah.

But I do wonder if that is an application for us today: to trust God and be obedient.

Oh dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank You for the day. I thank You for who You are.

I thank You that You plant with expectation of goodness and how that can all apply to us today.

Lord, thank You for Your graciousness and Your mercy and Your tenderness to prepare diligently in preparation or an expectation of something good.

You don't halfheartedly plant and then go, "Yeah, well, you know, we'll see what happens."

Oh Lord, thank You.

Please be with us today as we all return back to work after a longer weekend. As we turn our eyes to You, may our eyes be on You through all the trials and tribulations. May we trust You for what You've laid in front of us.

Oh precious Lord, it is in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Thank you for wandering with me today as we wandered through God's Word with wonder.