8 You removed a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the [h]nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground before it,
And it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shadow,
And [i]the cedars of God with its boughs.
11 It was sending out its branches to the sea
And its shoots to the River.
12 Why have You broken down its [j]hedges,
So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?
13 A boar from the forest eats it away
And whatever moves in the field feeds on it.14 O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You;
Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,
15 Even the [k]shoot which Your right hand has planted,
And on the [l]son whom You have [m]strengthened for Yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 Then we shall not turn back from You;
Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
19 O Lord God of hosts, restore us;
Cause Your face to shine upon us, [n]and we will be saved.
As I probably said before, the Israelites were going through a tough time, and this was a “bed” of their own making… sort of. God brought them out of Egypt, transplanted them in the promised land, and caused them to flourish. Through all the ups and downs, God was working through them to fulfill His plan.
And when the vine was burned and cut down, who was responsible? It was all God’s doing, and as vs. 16 says, they perished at the rebuke of His countenance. Once again, that’s a hard pill to swallow, but we give the enemies of God far too much credit. It reminds me of the writings of C.S. Lewis, that the enemy of our souls would rather lull us to sleep than awaken us into repentance.
So when we go through hard times, what then should we think? It seems there are two possibilities, yet both backed by one solid truth. We may be, like the Israelites, in the fire of discipline, the result of our sin and rebellion. If that is you, then you likely already know it, or you should now. However, not all trials are punishment for our sin.
God could very well be teaching us something that can only be learned in the trials of life. We are refined by fire, and that’s not very comfortable. We sing the songs, and ask God to refine us, but it’s another matter entirely when He answers that request.
In either case, as I mentioned, these two options point to one simple fact. God’s not done with you yet. God wouldn’t waste His efforts on someone who is “too far gone”–which is a rare specimen, and a topic for another day. And if you’re in the second boat, God is not just walking with you through the fire. He is the fire that brings character and wisdom beyond our imagining. He will not let us be burned, but neither will He “go easy on us”, for He knows exactly the right heat to apply to produce His fruit in our lives.
God is indeed responsible for all our trials, whether they be “of our own making” or not. And that means He wants to do something amazing in us. Embrace the challenge, keep your eyes fixed on Him, and run the race with endurance (and maybe go read Hebrews 12 too).