What vine are you attached to?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 16-18; Psalm 35

TO CHEW ON: "Say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Will it thrive?
Will he not pull pull up its roots
Cut off its fruit
And leave it to wither?
All of its leaves will wither,
And no great power or many people
Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots…" ' " Ezekiel 17:10


In this riddle / parable, the vine refers to Zedekiah with whom King Nebuchadnezzar replaces the legitimate King of Judah, Jehoiachin (who he carries away into exile  - Ezekiel 17:4).

Supported by Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, Zedekiah becomes a healthy vine, though humble ("…vine of low stature" - Ezekiel  17:6).

Then another king comes along "…another great eagle with large feathers…"—Egypt (Ezekiel 17:15). So the vine shifts its allegiance bowing to the new power, perhaps hoping to placate any Egyptian attempts to overrun and overpower Judah. But it doesn't work out so well. The new power plunders the vine, then neglects it so that when the "east wind" (interpreted as Nebuchadnezzar and his army) comes along it "utterly withers."

The prophetic meaning of this parable aside, it is also a picture to me of what a difference one's vine-source makes.

Here Zedekiah (the vine) looks to Babylon and then Egypt to sustain his power. His kingdom does well as long as Babylon is benevolent. But Egypt is another story. When he tries to curry favor with the new power, disaster.

I ask, from where does the vine we're attached to, I'm attached to, get its life?  Am I, at the most basic level, depending on God, attached to Jesus, so that when circumstances change in my life, the sap of my supply keeps flowing anyway?

Or am I looking to other things to sustain me—things like my health, my savings, the political peace of my country, the well-being of my family? If the "east wind" blew in my life, when it blows, will  I still be vigorous and fruit-bearing, or withered and easily uprooted?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please help me to be securely attached to You, so that no circumstance will interrupt Your flow of life in me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 35

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What kind of a plant are you?

Photo © 2015 by V. Nesdoly

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 5:11-6:12

TO CHEW ON: "For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it is bears thorns and briers it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned." - Hebrews 6:7,8


The Bible has many references to the life of a plant as a metaphor for the spiritual life of a person or nation.

• Isaiah pictures God caring for His nation Israel as a gardener cares for his vineyard. He expects a healthy batch of wine, but the vines disappoint with their wild grapes. So He withdraws his protective care - Isaiah 5:2,6,7.

• John the Baptist picks up this warning about the judgment on unfruitfulness in his sermon on the banks of the Jordan, where he warns that unfruitful trees will be chopped off at the root - Matthew 5:10-12.

• Jesus talks about the unfruitful life in his Parable of the Sower. He blames the thorns of worldliness—"the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches"—for a lack of spiritual fruit - Matthew 13:22.

• In another parable, we see that fruitfulness is expected in trees that are part of God's orchard - Luke 13:6-9.

• Jesus describes His relationship with the plants in His garden in His True Vine talk (John 15). He shows God the gardener removing the branches that don't grow fruit and pruning the ones that do so they'll produce an even bigger crop (John 15:2). The secret of fruit-bearing, He says, is to stay attached to the vine. That attachment results in answered prayers and God being glorified - John 15:5-8.

• What a contrast this is to our passage from Hebrews which talks about the backslider—the once-fruitful person who has turned his or her back on the things of God. The writer says if this one who has "tasted the good word of God and the power of the age to come" falls away, it is almost impossible for them to return. He warns of a fate that is likely to be the same as a patch of thorns and briers "whose end is to be burned" - Hebrews 6:8.

We can apply these pictures to our lives as plants in God's garden.

* We realize that life's circumstances—both good and bad (His walls around us, His pruning of us)—are His way of ensuring and increasing our fruitfulness.

*We are aware of the part that our focus and priorities play on our fruitfulness (and guard against worldliness).

* We know that to stay fruitful we need to stay connected to Him.

* We are also aware of the fate of the once-fruitful person who has turned away from following Him and…  well, we don't want to go there!

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be a healthy, fruit-producing plant in Your garden. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Seeds of Jesus in the Song of Songs

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Song of Solomon 1:1-2:7

TO CHEW ON: "He brought me to the banqueting house
And His banner over me was love." - Song of Solomon 2:4

"The Song is the best of all songs, a literary work of art and a theological masterpiece," says Donald Pickerill, writer of my Bible's introduction to Song of Solomon. He goes on, "The song itself is like its favourite fruit, pomegranates, alive with color and full of seeds" - Introduction to the Song of Solomon, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 859.

I love the idea of this book being full of seeds. Let's find a few of those seeds—the objects and images which appear here and reappear throughout Scriptures, most within the life of Jesus—in today's reading.

Love  (Song of Solomon 1:2, 4, 7, 9):
- John's words describe the extent to which Jesus loved His disciples: "He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end" - John 13:1. Then John describes Jesus washing the disciples' feet.
- Of course we can't think of love and leave out Paul's great description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

Fragrance (Song of Solomon 1:3):
Paul talks about our lives, fragrant with the likeness of Christ in 2 Corinthians 2:14:
"Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse" - MSG.

Spikenard (Song of Solomon 1:12):
- Mary anointed Jesus with Spikenard - John 12:3

Myrrh (Song of Solomon 1:13):
- The wise men brought myrrh as a gift to the baby Jesus - Matthew 2:11

King (Song of Solomon 1:4, 12):
- Jesus prayed "Your kingdom come" - Matthew 6:9,10
- He talked about His kingdom that was not of this world - John 18:36

Vineyard (Song of Solomon 6:14):
- Jesus said of Himself, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant" - John 15:5 (MSG).

Flock (Song of Solomon 1:7,8):
- Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10: " I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep" - John 10:11 (AMP)

Dove (Song of Solomon 1:15):
- The Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended on Jesus at His baptism. It's recorded in Matthew 3:16.

Fruit (Song of Solomon 2:3):
- Jesus spoke often of fruit. He spoke of bearing fruit when he spoke of Himself being the vine. He also mentioned fruit in the parable of the sower - Mark 4:20.

Banquet  (Song of Solomon 2:4):
- We recall that Jesus did His first miracle at a wedding banquet - John 2:1-11
- Of course the word banquet conjures up the picture of the greatest banquet yet to be—the Marriage Supper of the Lamb - Revelation 19:9.

In conclusion, here area  few more words from our Song of Solomon Introduction writer:

"In the Song of Solomon, as in other parts of the Bible, the Garden of Eden, the Promised land, the tabernacle with its Ark of the Covenant, the temple of Solomon, the new heavens and the new earth are all related to Jesus Christ ... The very essence of covenant history and covenant love is reproduced in Him (Luke 24:27; 2 Corinthians 1:20).

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for this beautiful love song that speaks in so many ways of Your relationship with the church, and our relationship with You. Help me to be receptive to Your love, and to return it to the best of my ability.  Amen.

MORE: All My Days by Rita Springer

Rita Springer sings her response to our lovely Jesus. Can we sing along?




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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.