Daily Delight Devotional – May 25, 2023 – The Unwanted Fruit
Memory Verse: The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
– Isaiah 5:7, NIV
Isaiah 5:1-7 – New International Version
- I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
- He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
- “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
- What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
- Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
- I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
- The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
A farmer once planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. As the two trees grew, both began to bear fruit. One day, the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house.
He noticed that the fruit was a little deformed, but still, the fruit looked edible. Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible.
Casting the fruit aside, he looked across the field to the other tree. The farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it. Finding the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more and took them to the house.
In our text today, Israel is depicted metaphorically as a vineyard and Judah as the choice garden of God. The vineyard and the garden were well tendered but disappointingly, they bear the unwanted fruit.
This is similar to what happens in the Church today. God is disappointed by the unwanted fruits amongst us and we face the same threat of being rejected and trampled unless we repent.
There are lots of social vices such as “Internet fraud,” sports betting, ritual killings, and the like in society, and disappointingly, some members of the Church are not exempted from such evil practices.
God expects good fruit from us as Christians and we cannot afford to disappoint Him. Bear good fruit that your life might glorify God.
Insight: No good tree produces bad fruits.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, make my life fruitful to Your glory, in the name of Jesus.
Good morning and have a blessed Thursday