A Reflection on Isaiah 5:1-4
When we read this passage, we hear the author of Isaiah who talks about a friend of his who was trying to get vineyard in order. To no avail, everything went wrong, the grapes rotted and yielded nothing. The closing of this passage has the author asking what more could have been done. When I read this on June 1st, I was immediately struck by how close this feels to the people I serve on a daily basis as a therapist and even some of my own struggles in life. Doesn’t it seem sometimes that no matter how hard we try to get things right, everything just turns out wrong?
Your Attitude is the Problem
The wise words of the Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow come to mind when these sort of things pop up in my life. He was noted to say that “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.” I can say that I have had a bit of an attitude problem over the last five years as I have dealt with very strange long Covid problems. No longer able to enjoy the freedom of running for long hours, I like the friend in Isaiah’s passage have tried all the things to make it better only to continually harvest rotten grapes.
My mind is drawn to Marcus Aurelius and the entirety of the Stoic thought around issues like this. I am most drawn to the idea of Memento Mori, or translated loosely, “you too shall die”. It is a motivating statement that helps us realize that only have a short time here. With this in mind, we must begin to understand that setbacks are always opportunities to start over.
I know a lot about starting over again. I was denied ordination back in 2004 and kept that career on life support until 2016 when it finally died all together, my church called me a failure and told me to leave and not come back(I still stayed in touch and now serve a small church, they still won’t ordain me). In 2008, I made the hard decision to start over with another Master’s degree. With four small children at home, bankruptcy imminent and our finances in the red more times than they were in the black, this was not how I envisioned my thirties. But, understanding this is what I had to do, I just did it. And succeeded. It took me ten years to complete this “starting over” and my school debt load will forever have me shackled financially, but at least I can pay my bills now.
God is not to Blame
The early part of my ministry work straddled the 9/11 disaster and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. In both of these incidents, I often heard people ask why God could let these things happen. This is perhaps the most frustrating misunderstanding of God. I understand shame now much better now that I am a therapist and understand how several generations growing up with an angry, wrathful God and bad theology have brought people to the understanding that they are bad and some people deserve the plights that they find themselves in.
The reality is that God is not to blame for our woes, we are. Whether we cause problems directly or other factors like generational dysfunction, greed, selfishness and many others, God is never the factor in why these things happen. God is always present though, always loving, always rooting for our side, always caring and supporting. God always works for good. It is said in Buddhism that we suffer because we cling. Little children often get irrationally upset because they cling too tightly to expectations and do not take disappointment well. Traditionally parenting has told parents to holler, cajole and even physically discipline these children when they act this way. I used to parent like this and when I learned about co regulation and being with my children’s emotions, I created a different relationship with them. When we too see God patiently waiting for us to calm and listen to God, for God to co regulate with us, we will learn fully that God or even our sinfulness is not the source of our problems.
Openness as Prescription for Cultivating Patience
“The concept of Xu (虛), often translated as “emptiness”, “openness”, or “receptivity”, is a fundamental principle in Daoist philosophy. Unlike emptiness in the sense of lack or void, Xu in Daoist thought represents a dynamic state of potential and receptivity. It refers to a quality of being open, flexible, and unburdened by rigid attachments or preconceptions, allowing one to respond to the world in an effortless and harmonious manner.”
The spiritual practice of openness is a practice that enhances empathy and flexibility. It then counters or balances attitudes or states of close – mindedness. “Openness is an ability to go with the flow, as Taoism puts it, without expecting predetermined outcomes. It means being receptive to new possibilities, without prejudging them. It is an ability to make yourself available to out-of-the-ordinary opportunities. Indeed, openness to the unknown, the exotic, and the bizarre is usually seen as the mark of a free spirit.”
Isaiah’s listeners feared economic collapse and cultural extinction. The prophet redirects that fear: the true peril is not Assyria but covenant breach. The “hedge removed” (5:5) signals God’s withdrawal of supernatural protection—realized historically in 701 BC when 46 Judean cities fell (Taylor Prism). Isaiah 5:1’s historical matrix—political intrigue, social injustice, covenant neglect—mirrors modern temptations toward self-reliance, systemic sin, and disregard for divine revelation. As then, so now: the Vinedresser seeks fruit in keeping with repentance and faith.
When things don’t go our way, keeping with the faith means hoping in God. This hope does not depend on our circumstances improving by Tuesday. It depends on the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Christian hope is not a prediction that things will get easier; it is confidence that God will be faithful. Repentance is not a vast recounting of our sins and asking strictly for forgiveness, it is recognizing when we have gone astray, held too firmly to our convictions and not relied fully on God’s guidance.
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