Bitter Grapes
- Jul 7, 2015
- 2 min read
I know there have been times in my life where I am giving my all. I am acting loving, patient, sweet, and benevolent, and yet for some reason that sentiment is not at all returned. It baffles me and is hard to swallow. How can I be so kind and loving to you and yet you are so rude and disrespectful to me? This has happened to me with my children, and it has happened to the Lord!
Isaiah 5
What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
Yes – exactly! The Lord gets me! What more could I possibly do for you? I am loving to you, providing for you, and giving you everything I know to give, and yet you give me bitterness in return. Okay, so God is Love, so I wonder what His response will be to this bitter vineyard.
Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.
I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.
The vineyard represents God’s special people that He greatly loved and chose for Himself. This is eye opening that the God of Love would actually command the clouds to drop no rain on this special group of people. I think we as Americans sometimes confuse unconditional love with unconditional blessings.
There is nothing that my children can do that can make me stop loving them. And I can certainly rise above their immature disrespect and still carry myself in a loving and kind manner toward them. However, if I am acting loving and they are returning to me bitterness, I may have to command the clouds to stop showering them with provisions.
I am required by the sheer law of moral convictions to provide my children with food, shelter, clothes, education, and physical and emotional intimacy. Anything above and beyond that is out of the goodness of my heart and the desire to give them an abundant life. However, if out of that abundance I begin see an unthankful, ungrateful, entitled, bitter person emerge, then the most loving thing I can do for my child is remove some of those extras until I see a heart of humility and gratitude come forth once again.
Lord God, thank You for showing me that You have had to remove Your blessings from people You deeply loved so that there could be change. I can continue to love my children in the midst of removing blessings so that I can expect sweet grapes again. Please show me how I can be firm in expecting grateful attitudes from my children while still standing strong in the power of Your Love.
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