Isaiah's song picturing Israel as the Lord's vineyard teaches us that God has a right to expect love, worship, and obedience from those He blesses. Unfortunately, like people in Isaiah's day, many of us show little gratitude. And we deliberately break His moral laws. When we behave this way, God has a right to act in judgment.
History reveals that whenever a nation ignores God and rejects His Word, it reaps a bitter harvest.
On this Independence Day, we in the United States are reminded again of the liberties we enjoy. For these we should be deeply grateful. But sometimes we take them for granted, displaying little concern for those who are not so abundantly blessed. We are becoming a nation of individuals who selfishly insist on our own rights, making unfair demands on others and not thinking of their welfare.
Worst of all, in this clamor for personal freedom, we hear very little about the rights of God. We should recognize that He is the "Lord of the vineyard." He expects us to produce the fruits of love and obedience instead of the wild grapes of ingratitude and wickedness (Isaiah 5:2).
As we thank God for our rights, let's not forget the rights of God. — Herbert Vander Lugt
So long as faith is kept alive,
Nation and people will survive;
God keep them, always, everywhere:
The hearth, the Book, the place of prayer. —Anon.
True freedom is not in having our own way, but in yielding to God's way.