I was just thinking the other day. That's it... just thinking. My job has been good but exceptionally busy working more hours than I truly should be working. (My own doing.) I knew this time was coming so I was prepared mentally and physically for this time. Still in all, come each weekend, I am pretty crispy.
Recently, my grandmother (she's 95) fell, surviving the fall with only a broken finger, yet continued to fall every day. It was evident that it was time for Nana to be moved to a home, a very tough decision for my Dad. After a long week, I jumped into the car, headed to St Augustine for the evening with Dad and to visit with Nana the following day before heading home again.
That Saturday morning in St Augustine, following my morning study time, I went for a quick jog to try to shake the week from me. I ran from the house to the beach, then ran along the beach; not a far run but long enough to sweat. Since the heat index was passed "oppressive," it didn't take long to sweat out the week. I had planned to walk back to the house from the beach so I could jump into the ocean for a few minutes following my run.
Having sweat sufficiently, I now stood in the ocean watching the waves and listening to God breathe. Ever notice how the sound of crashing waves sounds like someone breathing? Since I was a kid, I thought the sound of the ocean was God breathing... I love listening to the sound of the ocean.
The waves were big and the water a bit unseasonably cool because Tropical Storm Emily was somewhere east off the coast. (She brought with her some old-time Florida heat and big waves.) The water was refreshing as I stood there for a long time letting the waves massage by legs, listening to God breathe and just thinking.
After a while of standing in the water, having dunked a few times, it was time to head back to the house. Between the beach and Dad's neighborhood are two blocks of beach houses. Some are nicely done, some are new homes replacing older beach homes and some are the older beach homes. I realized, as I walked home, that the wild grape vines have taken over, weaving a mat and nearly choking out the other vegetation. Only those homes who's owners are most diligent at weeding, don't have the mat of grape vines.
The leaves on these wild grape vines are turning yellowish and tinged with brown showing it's almost harvest time. I look for the grapes and see only a few here and there in various stages of ripening. Every once and a while I see a true cluster of grapes that look worth eating. The birds and squirrels have gotten most of the grapes, I thought. Even though the vines have woven into a thick mat, they are scraggly, unhealthy and wild. If you taste a grape, you'll notice the fruit tastes like a bitter concord grape not good for anything but feeding the birds and animals. To us, the vines are invasive and destructive producing only worthless fruit.
As always, God speaks and He reminds me of Scripture. He brings to mind the story about the man who planted a choice vineyard. I had to look it up when I got home to remember it was Isaiah 5. In the story, Isaiah calls to mind a man who plants and builds a quality vineyard with the choicest of vines expecting the choicest of fruits. The man marks out his prize vineyard with a wall. He clears out all of the stones and tills the soil so its optimal for the vines. He plants a hedge to protect the vineyard from destructive animals. He digs a wine press anticipating that he will have the best fruit to make wine; the choicest of grapes and not useless grapes good only for feeding animals. He builds a watchtower to have security over wildfires, approaching weather, thieves and poachers. The man is God. The vineyard is in His garden and is Israel, "the called out." He has gardeners in charge of maintaining His vineyard. And when God returns to collect the expected choice fruit in order to make choice wine, He only finds bad fruit.
As I was thinking, I also know that Israel - the called out - is also a type of the Church; we who are called out by God to live a life in continuing stages of changing as a testimony to Him so others will see us, give recognition to God and turn from their lives to submit to Him. So, when I read about Israel, its responsibilities, failures and demise, I know God's Word is also calling me and the Church into the same relationship with responsibilities.
God created His garden - earth - and planted His choice vineyard - the church - and placed the vineyard into the care of gardeners to work it for Him - man (Genesis 1: 26, 28-30, 2:15). However, man grew complacent, selfish, and resentful, so we lightly took our honored responsibilities, fell asleep in some cases, willing opening the gate to those that destroy; in some cases allowing the enemy of God into His garden and vineyard. Given that opportunity, what better way to destroy your enemy than from within, so God's enemy plants wild grapes in God's vineyard just like this enemy sewed bad seed into God's grain fields. (Matthew 13:24-30)
Like tares resemble wheat, the wild grapes resemble the good grapes. Tares look like wheat when they grow, even have heads of "wheat" but, tares don't bow their heads at the harvest time as wheat does. I'm guessing it's the weight of good grain verses empty, useless grain. Tares are just wild grasses. The wild grapes by sight, look like good vines, produce fruit like good vines but when you taste the fruit, then you know it's useless fruit not worthy for choice things.
As I stand there on the side of the road, wet from listening to God breathe, I think now of God saying, "Let them grow together until it's harvest time, then the harvesters can pull everything, separate the bad from the good, move the good into my barn, bundle up and burn the bad stuff." (Rose's paraphrase of several Scriptures Matthew 13: 29-30; 25: 31-46) It was a scary thought.
Are these grape vines a visible warning, in nature, to us who know God? Are we to see that the bad have grown over and in place of the good so we will wake from our stupor, rise up to call on God for His help? How much longer will God and His patience allow us to sleep as the weeds take over His garden? How much longer will God and His patience allow us to stand with His gate wide open as we allow all sorts of undesirables to corrupt His vineyard, His church? Are we near the end because in nature we see the signs of the harvest time - both harvest times of the natural seasons as well as the harvest times of the Heavenly realms?
Only God knows the time of THAT DAY. Only He can extend the time until the harvest comes, allowing us to wake up and work with Him to restore His garden. Only He knows the time when He will tell His Son Jesus to go bring His bride home; go get the fruit from the vineyard.
When I read Isaiah 5, I realized that God is about to take away the demarcation of our "vineyard." He will take away the hedge of protection because the vineyard is useless. He will allow the vineyard to be trampled and turned into a wasteland. He will tell the clouds not to rain on it to nourish the vineyard. He says woe to the gardener who adds house upon house - we certainly are a people who buy and accumulate lots of stuff, many houses, several cars, etc. And at the end, only exile awaits the gardeners of the vineyard.
From my very limited knowledge of prophecy, our great country (the USA) is not mentioned literally in end times prophecy. The question is... is this because the gardeners wake up, confess our bad practices to the owner of the vineyard, turn and submit ourselves to work with Him to restore His vineyard before the harvest? Do we prepare for our jobs, for this time of critical work? Or do we continue to sleep and continue to open the gate to those who want to destroy? Are we to live through the destruction of the vineyard? Once again, only God knows. As for me and my house, I'm asking God to wake us up and prepare us for worthy gardening.
After all, I was just thinking...
