DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD'S LONGSUFFERING

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD'S LONGSUFFERING

"He also spoke this parable: 'A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?" But he answered and said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down."'" (Luke 13:6-9)

Jesus was speaking to people who thought that they were pretty good. They were God's chosen people who had received God's revelation. So when they saw bad things happen to other people – like the slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate, or a tower that fell in Siloam and killed a lot of people, they thought that it was because those people were horrible sinners. But Jesus said that they were not worse sinners than those who lived in Jerusalem, the center of the worship of God.

It was only God's longsuffering and patience that kept disaster from coming to the people in Jerusalem. Then Jesus gave a parable to show God's patience with them. The parable is of a farmer of a vineyard who was disappointed when it produced no fruit. So he told the worker to cut it down. But the worker plead with the farmer to give him another year to work with it, and if it still didn't produce fruit, then he would cut it down. So the workman dug around it and fertilized it.

We don't know the end of the parable. But we do know the conclusion of the meaning. Jesus was using Isaiah's prophecy about Israel as the basis of this parable (Isaiah 5:1-7). Isaiah said that God had planted His vineyard, Israel. God Himself said, "The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). In Isaiah's prophecy, God said that His vineyard produced only wild grapes. He said, "What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?….And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned...I will lay it waste...' " Israel – God's chosen vineyard – would face God's judgment because they did not bear good fruit. And it happened just as the prophet had said, in 70 A.D., when the city was besieged, conquered, and burned.

God is longsuffering, but, as He said to the wicked people of Noah's day, He will not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3). Even though God is longsuffering and patient, there is a payday coming.

But then I think of how patient and longsuffering God has been with me. I can almost hear Jesus say, "Just give me a little more time with this fruitless vine. Maybe I can do something with him yet." In His wisdom, God keeps digging around me and fertilizing me in the hope that I might produce some fruit. So I pray, "O God, don't give up on me. Keep working in my life."

Love, Dad