Learning From A Vine

 There is a reason why Jesus used the analogy of the vineyard so often in the Bible. If you look through Scripture, you find so many references to this humble, fruit-bearing plant. In Jeremiah 2:21 it talks about the fruitful vine as being God's obedient people while the empty vine (or wild grapes) were the disobedient ones who failed to follow God. In Isaiah 5:1-8 and John 15:1-2 God used the vine once again to illustrate how hearts must be pruned and tended if they are to produce good faith. Of course, John 15:1-5 is the most famous passage where Christ describes Himself as the Master-Gardener and all of us believing ones as the vines He cares for. 

 However, while watching a travel show on Italy late at night recently, another interesting lesson from this plant jumped out at me: the travel guide said that the vineyard-keepers evaluate when to water and not water their grape plants because "when you water them, they reach for the water and grow taller; but when you withhold the water, they put down roots and go deeper into the ground where moisture may be found." 

 It struck me that God does the same thing with these hearts of ours: He evaluates what we need and orders the seasons of our lives accordingly. Sometimes He knows that He must send the water of His refreshing presence and love in such a way as to cause us to reach higher, grow taller, push ourselves toward greater levels of faith and holiness. But other times, He knows that we need to dig deeper and put our roots into better places and get grounded in truth and firmly planted in grace. Thus, He withholds Himself to an extent that we must reach down and grab hold of His promises and His Word so that we are "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord..." (1 Cor. 15:58)

 How precious and wise and loving of God to care for us in this way?! As a reminder of our feeble sense, we would most likely ask for a continual supply of water from Him, but we would grow too tall for our own good and we would drown ourselves so that we could not be fruitful. God knows we need the drier times too, the wilderness seasons where we must discover where our roots are placed. We must go deeper instead of higher so that we are balanced in the truth and our soul-vines can be fruitful and abundant for our Master-Gardener. 

 It's amazing how God reveals so much of Himself and His treatment of us through His creation. We are absolutely without excuse (Rom. 1:20) and have every reason to plead God's forgiveness for all of the times we've mis-judged His dealings with us! 

Just trust His process, my friend, and all will be well with your soul!