Experience the Grace of Recovery

In today's text of Isaiah 27:2-6, the prophet testifies the grace of God who cares for Israel through the parable of vineyard and its guard. In addition, it sends a message that the Israelites scattered around the world will return on the day God's enemies are destroyed. These prophecies were completed first when they returned to Jerusalem from the captive in the Babylon. The passage sings of Israel's recovery, and we can think of God's grace to intervene in their dark history and achieve the recovery.

However, this history of recovery can be clearly found in our lives today too. In other words, we should remember the grace of the Lord who allows us to recover when we are tired and exhausted from the difficulties of life. Even at this moment, the Lord becomes a guard of the vineyard and protects and cares for the vineyard he has built, so we must fully rely on Him to experience the grace of recovery.

Grace to help in all things

Verse 3 of today's passage details the process of the Lord helping our lives. "I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it." The first act of caring for our lives by God appears to be supplying water according to the time. As water supplied to life, the land becomes watery and fertile so it can be full of life and grow.

Second, the Lord takes care of us day and night, and we can see His active interest in our lives.

Finally, He protects and guards us like an eyeball so that nothing can harm us. We can think of the fact that the Lord intervenes in human history, helps and provides the necessary grace every time.

He always serves as a shield for us like a fence in guarding us and plays the role of a watchman who protects every man who is close to God. Accordingly, the prophet witnessed in Isaiah 49:8. "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and on the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances."

The Lord helps us in all things as He helps in the valley of death, which is truly the grace of recovery. Paul was able to testify in 1Co. 15:10. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

In that sense, each person who lives in the midst of exhaustion and fatigue in the world should be able to recover. The Lord still takes care of us by supplying necessary food for day and night and protecting and caring us from difficulties by the devil. Since the Lord is our power and ability, we should fully experience the grace of recovery that He gives us when we are struggling and in need of daily lives.

The world is not helpful, but He is completely helpful and can make the things possible whatever we think impossible. We should be able to enter the narrow gate, not the place people like and enjoy, to experience this grace of recovery through the grace of the Lord's help.

Grace of winning the warfare

In Israel's history, there have been numerous adversaries who oppress and harass its people, but God comforts them in verse 4 of the passage. "I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire." Even in the vineyards built by God, there are briers and thorns that hinder the growth of the vine trees.

But His ability is to trample these things and burn them up so that these cannot be recognized. We should always remember the power and ability of the Lord in dealing with enemies. In reality, the Lord blocks the outer enemy by placing the fence, stomping on the inner enemy of briers and thorns and burning it.

When we look around the scene of our lives, we realize that it is a battlefield, and enemies are looking for people to swallow even at this moment. We should be alert and awake to protect ourselves because we can be the prey of Satan while we are not vigilant any moment. However, this is possible not by a man's power or talent, but only when we rely on Jesus. This kind of fight is entirely in His hands so we can experience victory by relying on His hands. Jesus is the one who won by winning death and resurrected at the scene of a desperate warfare on the cross, so He can overcome any warfare if we join Him.

Laurie Beth Jones says in her book, Jesus, Inc., that "Jesus's definition of success was to do exactly as God wanted." Many people in the world are thirsty for success today, however, success is nothing but following God's will. In other words, it means that we will be successful in all things by fulfilling His will in life.

Deuteronomy 29:9 records it: "Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do." This means that if we keep the Word of God, He will help us win the warfare against the enemy. Therefore, we can fully experience the grace of recovery to defeat the enemy in the field of spiritual warfare today.

Grace of providing fruits every time

Prophet Isaiah records the history of the Lord's recovery in verse 6. "In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit." In days here is the day of complete recovery when the covenant of the Lord promised to be fulfilled. This means the time when Jehovah's Day in Revelation 21 is completely fulfilled, and the site of Israel as Jacob's other name can be settled on this day and bear the fruit by blooming among them as a result.

Therefore, we need to think about the content in more detail. First, the Jacob will take root refers to the people or communities that God guarantees will be the final winners. He wants to be close to us, and everyone in Jesus' alliance is guaranteed to be rooted and solid.

Second, Israel was devastated and hopeless at the time by saying that life was moving, but the prophet saw the future that Israel's bud would rise and flowers would bloom. In other words, many dying souls will receive life and blossom their wishes by having a relationship with God.

Finally, those who unite with Jesus will be full of fruit. The Lord wanted a beautiful fruit among us, and He guaranteed that outcome appeared in the saints or communities in Jesus and was filled all the world with fruit.

The Lord gives grace to our lives today, and everything we do with hands comes to fruition. He grants the grace of recovery to those who do as he wishes and every work he does with sweat pays off. He allowed the blessing of sweaty labor and also gave the blessing of earning outcome from it. Therefore, we should be able to live with the fruits of our lives by taking care of faith life and working with sweat.

In other words, we should experience the grace of recovery that the Lord is pouring every day and live without shortage through the fruits. The seed sown today should be collected tomorrow, the seed sown in youth should be collected when one is old, the seed sown by parents should be collected by the descendants, and the seed sown by this generation should be collected by the next generation.

It is important not to forget that those who plant to please sinful nature reap destruction, but those who plant and invest for the Holy Spirit reap eternal life.