The Vineyard That Forgot Why It Was Planted
January 4, 2026
Week 1 Focus, Why is trust even an issue?
Isaiah sings a “love song” about God planting a vineyard with great care—clearing the ground, choosing the best vines, building protection, and preparing it to produce good fruit—yet it produced something else. Isaiah 5:1–2
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” John 15:8
Break It Down
Isaiah 5 begins tenderly, like a song. God is pictured as a loving gardener who did everything needed for His vineyard to thrive.
Picture this, He isn’t a careless vineyard owner, He’s a committed Father. He planted the vineyard with intention, protected it with care, and expected good fruit.
But the heartbreak is not that the vineyard struggled, it’s that it produced the wrong kind of fruit. Something happened between planting and harvest.
The vineyard forgot why it was planted.
Trust Question
Who are you trusting here, and why, God’s loving intention for your life, or your own direction once life begins to flourish and grow?
God’s Intention
God’s intention is fruit, and not for His ego, but because fruit is the evidence of real life in us. Fruit means His people are becoming like Him.
Just, merciful, faithful, true.
John 15:8 confirms it, much fruit is the mark of true discipleship, and much fruit brings glory to the Father.
Isaiah shows God’s heart before He shows God’s grief. The point is not that God is hard to please. The point is that God is deeply invested, and He created His people to flourish in relationship with Him, not to drift into self-directed living.
Weave It In
These questions are tough, aren’t they? Tough in the good kind of way. They make you step back and take another look.
Don’t brush past this.
Because when things become lush, when life gets a little too blessed and comfortable, we can so easily take our eyes off Him.
We don’t mean to. It’s rarely rebellion, it’s drift. The vineyard grows, the routines settle, and before we know it we’re trusting what feels stable rather than the One who planted us.
And sometimes, when we get too comfortable, God will lovingly disrupt us. And not to harm us, but to bring our attention back to where it belongs, back to Him, and back to the things of the Kingdom He created us to participate in.
And then, and only then, we find we’re doing the very things we love, the things we were created for. We are all so different, made with purpose, His purpose. Yet distractions and false promises abound, and they are persuasive when life is busy or easy.
The straight path was always the best path, the one that daily seeks His will and His purposes, the one that surrenders our will to His leading.
Some of us are slow to learn. That’s where I find myself too.
So today isn’t about trying harder. It’s about returning, back to the Vine, back to the Gardener, back to the “why.”
Practice for Today
Return to the “why.” Take five minutes (moments) and ask God:
1) What fruit are You wanting to grow in me this year Lord?
2) Where have I become self-directed instead of Spirit-led?
Then choose one step of obedience that aligns with fruit:
— make peace
— tell the truth
— forgive
— serve quietly
— simplify
— return to prayer
— say no to what is choking the vine.
Prayer
Father, thank You that You planted me with love and intention. Forgive me for the ways I drift into self-directed living and forget why I was planted. Bring me back to abiding in You.
Grow good fruit in me, fruit that reflects Your heart and brings You glory. Teach me to trust You again, not just at the beginning, but all the way through the season.
In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.