by R. T. Holmes
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged" (Isa. 51:1).
Digging is hard work if it is done with our own hands. The Lord learned that as He dug us up from the pit in which we were deeply rooted. It was back-breaking, killing work.
The Lord is always digging in His garden. He has dug it up and cleared out the stones. He has planted it with the choicest vine and expects it to bring forth good grapes. He has built a tower in the middle of it for protection and a wall (a hedge) around it to keep it from being trampled down. He prunes it, and digs it, and commands the clouds to rain on it, so that it will grow and be very fruitful (Isa. 5:1-2).
We are the Lord's garden - His vineyard. May our Lord give us more spiritual understanding in these evil days to see His love, His goodness, and His faithfulness to us in His continual pruning, and digging.
The cutting into, and the digging out of the weeds that we have come to like so much, is very painful to us, and rips open our flesh at times, but let us remember that He is just making our wilderness like Eden, and our desert like His garden (Isa. 51:3). If He didn't do this our evil root would keep growing and a day would come when He would have to say to us as He did to Israel, "I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it" (Isa. 5:4-6). Is this what we want??
Let us believe and trust our Gardener. Then we will live to see our desert blossom like a rose (Isa. 35:1-2).
We thank you Lord, with all our heart for not only your back-breaking, killing work, but also for your hedge, even though it is made of thorns. It keeps us from pride; it shows us how very weak we still are, and would always be, without You (II Cor. 12:7-10).