And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste…
Isaiah 5:5-6
The night before I taught on this passage, God decided to give me a “live” illustration of this principle.
The after-school rush started well but quickly fell apart into an early evening chaotic rodeo. (I know I’m not alone or I wouldn’t be posting this for all to see.) The kids were wildly disobedient, I was becoming unglued, screaming started, I was crying to my husband, and was basically pacing in circles around the house ranting that “I don’t want to have my family in strife like this forever!!” (I may have the tendency to borrow trouble from tomorrow.)
It suddenly struck me that I was in a situation much like the kingdom of Judah in Isaiah’s time. It was ugly and only getting worse. I couldn’t quite recover. My husband and I regained our composure as the grown-ups in the house and decided DESTROY the habits of disobedience. Family conference time with some serious, NEW boundaries and FRESH consequences.
We did it with love and a healthy balance of law + grace. But, we had to COMPLETELY START FRESH. We realized that no fruit was coming from the vineyard we were tending. Wild grapes (5:4) were abounding, but no healthy fruit. It was time to destroy old habits and create a brand new landscape.
Just as God had to utterly destroy His carefully planted vineyard (Judah and Jerusalem), we must sometimes start fresh by destroying first. Destroy old habits, sinful behavior, caustic relationships, angry outbursts, you name it.
Are there areas in your life that need to be destroyed so that you can start fresh? New life can bloom in well-seasoned soil, but it must be clear of weeds, rocks and thorns.
Moments from Above 