It’s odd the verses of scripture that sometimes catch my attention. On this cold winter morning where I’m wrapped in a cozy blanket, longing for the warmth of summer days, it was a verse about cucumbers that had my mind longing for the fresh produce of the garden and the sunshine that brings it about. The context of the scripture begins with a rather disturbing conversation of the Lord describing Israel as a really bad wound! Not just a wound, but one that had not been taken care of, to the point it was, in the Lord’s words, “putrifying.” I know where your mind is likely at right now… what on earth does this have to do with cucumbers?! Hang with me, I’ll get there. But first we have to discuss this wound (without the graphic details.)
The text for today’s blog is Isaiah 1:6-20 KJV
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. [7] Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
The Lord does not say how the wound came about, only that it is and that it wasn’t taken care of. At the writing of this scripture, that was a description of Israel. They had not taken care of the things of God, which partly ended with the Babylonish captivity, and fully in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, when not only their city and temple was left desolate (Matthew 23:38) but the whole land. And they were carried captive and scattered among the nations where they still continue.
[8] And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. [9] Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
A cottage in the vineyard was booth that the gardener stayed in to watch and protect the fruit of the vine. To keep thieves and vandals away from the produce. But when the cucumbers were gone, it was a lonely barren place. That is how the Lord is now describing the state of Israel. They have no purpose, no productivity. My heart breaks as I think about how the Lord had created this people to serve and love Him, He gave them so much with so little expected in return. (Can I get a witness on the modern day churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.) As you read on you discover how the Lord had had His fill of dead religion.
[10] Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. [11] To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. [12] When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? [13] Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. [14] Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. [15] And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. [16] Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
These words should break our heart at God’s level of frustration. But does it? How does God view our church services today when He looks down on Sunday morning and see’s the few and the faithful gathering into His house, while countless others who claim the name of Jesus never darken the doorstep of a church. And those that do can give no more than one hour on a Sunday morning else it cuts too much out of their day of rest. Oh, I know. I sound like a self righteous bible thumper huh? I’m really not. I have no right to judge anyone. I too am a part of the problem.
Read on to see what God wants from His people…
[17] Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. [18] Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. [19] If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: [20] But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
God expects productivity in His church. Are we relieving the oppressed, helping the fatherless and widows? Our offerings may support an orphanage in Haiti but what about the children in our own communities, are we taking care of them? We have plenty of people on our prayer lists, but how many of us have taken time from our day to visit the people in our community who are unable to get to church? God was frustrated with Israel because they were bringing the offerings to the temple, but outside the temple they were doing nothing. It was if the gardener was provided this nice little house to lodge in, in exchange for overseeing the garden, but he sat in the cottage watching satellite television while the vandals robbed him blind and destroyed the vineyard! But for us, that fruit is our children and families and community that we have allowed the evils of the world to run roughshod over them, stealing their hearts and minds and leaving them without hope, all the while we have that hope on the inside of the house of God and refuse to use it to show people the love of God outside the church. It’s dead religion at it’s worst.
I know because I have experienced live faith! Oh my stars the joy I have experienced in the midst of the church of God when they’re doing what they should be doing. When they leave the church on Sunday morning and the ARE THE CHURCH the rest of the week, visiting nursing homes, teaching bible studies, discipling people, sharing the word of God and providing food or other needs to people in their community. We were not saved to sit on Sunday, we were save to Serve the Savior every day of the week.
This was for me!!!! But I hope it encouraged your soul as well. Let me know if it did.
In Christ’s love, Shari