“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.” Isaiah 5:1 ESV
Reflection: who is God to you?
You might have heard some people say of their spouse “I married my best friend”. At first that can seem rather strange, as we might not think of a best friend in a romantic sense. But, when you think about dating and courtship, much of it is about spending time to get to know each other, to ultimately become good friends; perhaps even the best of friends. And in reality we have very few true friends in life; friends that would do anything for us, even sacrifice themselves for us. We might remember Jesus saying “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 ESV
Laying down our lives for a friend.
Isaiah starts out chapter 5 by saying “Let me sing for my beloved my love song” Isaiah 5:1a ESV. Who is he referring to here? Who is his “beloved”? We will see later here that his beloved is God. I find this not only interesting, but so very beautiful. We are so used to speaking of God’s love for us, which of course is fully appropriate. How much He loves us. But what about our love for Him? Isaiah called God his “beloved”, as he walked so closely that he got to know God as the closest of friends. And, we read in the beginning of chapter 5 that he wrote a song about his beloved friend and his vineyard.
In the song, we learn that God had this amazing vineyard with the riches of soils, which he meticulously prepared before planting his choice vines. And then he waited, and expected the most excellent fruit and harvest. But what happened? Let’s read “He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.” Isaiah 5:2 ESV. The word for “wild grapes” here is more like “bitter” or even “stink” fruit, like a stinkberry. The metaphor here is clear, it is obvious, as we think back to the Israelites who were a “stiff necked” people, not following God’s ways. We will look more at this next.
But today, let’s dwell on this thought of how Isaiah considered God his beloved friend. He walked closely with God, and therefore saw so much of what God was doing for His people out of love for them. And, as a friend, it must have also frustrated Isaiah to see the lack of response from God’s people.
Is God your beloved, best friend?
As Isaiah, do you speak on His behalf, carrying on His will and agenda? Does it frustrate us when people are not listening to your beloved friend, turning their backs to Him and going their own ways?