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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
Isaiah 27: God the Gardener
Ever wondered how a humble garden can mirror the divine care and wisdom of God? Join us as we unravel the powerful metaphor of "God the Gardener," inspired by Isaiah 27. Through the heartfelt tale of a dear friend's passion for gardening, we explore how life's challenges—akin to pruning and fertilization—are God's way of nurturing our spiritual growth and maturity. Listen in as we delve into the imagery of a fruitful vineyard, discovering the depths of God's promise to protect and cultivate our souls, much like a gardener tending to his cherished plants.
The journey doesn't stop there as we shift perspectives on life's hurdles, viewing them not as punishments but as opportunities for growth, much like an athlete's disciplined training. Embrace life's struggles as lessons designed to align us with God's ultimate plan, and find strength in trusting His love and wisdom. We'll share insights on finding purpose through perseverance and the role of faith in overcoming adversity. As we wrap up, a prayer inspired by Isaiah 12:2 will leave you reflecting on gratitude and the victorious trust we place in God's guiding hand.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Isaiah, chapter 27, and today's title is God the Gardener God the Gardener. We're going to talk about this today and it's kind of an interesting sort of different way of looking at the things that happen in our life, and I hope it's a blessing to you, because God's Word's always powerful, even when it's just a little bit different. Right, We'll get into all that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you are commenting on the YouTube videos. I love reading the different things that you have to say. The way you guys interact with one another it just blesses my heart and I answer a lot of those as well when you have questions. So make sure you're doing that. Also, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, and they are doing an amazing job. That team of just devotions every day is just a wonderful thing, and it's great to do this thing called Life Together and just rally around reading God's Word. So make sure you go and do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Isaiah, chapter 27. While you're turning there, remember the overall goal and theme of Isaiah is that God is our salvation, and so all throughout Isaiah he's talking about different ways that God brings salvation sometimes through judgment, sometimes through blessing, and it's like, on the other side of that and this one, it's through discipline, through being a careful gardener and watching over his crop. And what it reminds me of is I was around this guy one time who he loved. He loved to garden and he didn't just garden, you know, vegetables and whatever, but he would have these trees, you know fruit trees, and he would have a vine for grapes and he would have flowers. He just loved to grow things right. And I was just fascinated because I am not like that. I don't have a green thumb, I have a black thumb. You give me a plant, I can kill anything you give me. I can kill a fake plant. Okay, it is a spiritual gift that I have of killing anything that is green, all right. So you ever want to kill a fake plant and you bring it to my house and just it's crazy. But anyway, it was amazing watching not just watching the things that he had grow, but watching his concern for them. I would go over to his house and I would watch him as he was growing these, these fruit trees, and he would talk about them. I have to remember the family. It was amazing just how he cared. And I remember one time I went over there and he had cut it way back and I was like, dude, you killed it, you killed your tree. And he's like, no, I didn't kill it. He's like I had to cut it back so that it could grow healthy. And he's like this is going to make the tree healthier. And sure enough, it was very true. I came back a couple of months later and the tree was growing and it was healthy.
Speaker 1:And then I went another time and I could barely get out of my car because it stunk so bad. And he had went and he had paid these chicken farmers to bring chicken litter, chicken poo okay, chicken litter to his house and he put it all over his garden and he was so proud and I was trying not to be a jerk but I was like, dude, it stinks so bad. He's like I know it's great, isn't it? It's like, no, no, it's not great. And I was like now I don't want to eat any of this fruit because it's going to have chicken poo all over it. And he's like, no, that's nutrients in the ground. And I turned him off after a second because I don't care about this, I just care that it stinks. But he cared because he knew that a little poo goes a long way in growing the crops. Well, if you haven't already picked up what I'm putting down here, god does that with us. Sometimes he loves us so much that he prunes us, he cuts things back. That's going to hinder us. Sometimes he loves us so much that he lets us walk through a little poo because he loves us and he knows that a little poo goes a long way in cultivating character, trouble, difficulties not there to destroy us, it's there to grow us. Some things you cannot learn by looking at somebody else's life, some things you can only learn by going through them yourself. And so we're going to read this together, see what God's Word has to say, and then let's see how we can apply this to our life. You ready.
Speaker 1:God the Gardener, chapter 27, verse 1, says this In that day, the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swift moving serpent, the coiling writhing serpent, and will kill the dragon of the sea. And that day, sing about the fruitful vineyard. I, the Lord, will watch over it, watering it carefully, day and night. I will watch so that no one can harm it. My anger will be gone and if I find briars and thorns growing, I will attack them and I will burn them, unless they turn to me for help. Let them make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me.
Speaker 1:The time is coming when Jacob's descendants will take root, israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole earth with fruit. The Lord has struck Israel and he has struck her enemies as he has struck her enemies. Let me read that again, verse 7. Has the Lord struck Israel as he struck her enemies? Has he punished her as he punished them? No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account. She was exiled from her land, as though blown away in a storm from the east. The Lord did this to purge Israel's wickedness, to take away all her sin. As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. No Asherah poles or pagan shrines will be left standing.
Speaker 1:The fortified towns will be silent and empty. The houses abandoned. The fortified towns will be silent and empty. The houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds. Calves will graze there and chewing on twigs and branches. The people are like dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Speaker 1:Israel is a foolish and stupid nation. Thanks God, I appreciate that For its people nation. Thanks God, I appreciate that, one by one, he will gather them from the Euphrates River in the east, of the brook, of Egypt in the west. In that day, the great trumpet will sound and many who are dying in exile in Assyria and in Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain. So, in other words, what's happening is that God is saying I'm treating you like a gardener and I want good things for you and I love you so much that I am willing to prune you, I'm willing to weed out the garden, I'm willing to do whatever is necessary because I am the God of salvation.
Speaker 1:And salvation is not always pretty. Salvation that we have because of Jesus. It's beautiful, but it wasn't pretty. You ever read Matthew chapter 27? It was ugly, it was horrible. It was terrible, but beautiful because of what it created. And just like my friend. I was telling you about the beginning of our time together. He would cut back a tree, he would uproot weeds and had to be so careful that he didn't uproot his plants at the same time. He would scatter fertilizer everywhere because he was doing what was necessary in order to help those crops grow.
Speaker 1:What does that mean for us today? God is for you more than you can imagine. He loves you more than you can imagine. God did not create you just so he could have a whipping post. God is not interested in you suffering needlessly. However, god knows that there are some things that can only be forged in our life through discipline, through pain. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. Any athlete will tell you they don't win a championship just by hanging out. They do it through hard work. They do it through grinding and suffering and sweating and bleeding and not wanting to do this anymore, but doing it again anyway. And all of that hard work creates discipline and skill and everything they need and the competitive spirit, and then they win. Same thing in life.
Speaker 1:What would it look like if we stopped looking at our troubles as God being mad at us and instead God teaching us? And what if it was God saying I have got such a big idea for you, I have such a plan for your life, but if I gave it to you right now, you couldn't handle it. You would crumble under. You would have no idea how to handle the weight that I have for you. So instead, what I'm going to do is I'm going to find other environments and I'm going to teach you how to be patient. I'm going to teach you how to have integrity. I'm going to teach you how to be honest. I'm going to teach you how to be honest. I'm going to teach you how to value the things I need you to value, so that one day I can give you all that you need.
Speaker 1:What would it look like if we stopped asking God why and we started asking God? What are you trying to teach me? Because if God is trustworthy and he truly is and if he loves you and he truly does that, god has a great plan for you. If we could think like that, I guarantee you it would change the way we saw our world. Let me pray for you, god. Thank you so much that you are for us more than we can imagine.
Speaker 1:God, my prayer today is that you would open our eyes to see how you are working in our life, to see the good things that you are doing. Help us, lord, to see that it's all part of the plan, that you, as the great gardener, are pulling weeds and you're spreading fertilizer and you're trimming back things, because you have such a great plan for us and the plan isn't happening one day, it's happening today. You're part of the plan, we are part of the plan right now. So I pray, God, that we'll be patient in the middle of the growth periods so that we can see all you have for us. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and what God's word says in Isaiah 12, verse 2, god has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. I love you.
