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Isaiah 27:2–3 says, “In that day, ‘A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day.’”

What do you think this pleasant vineyard represents? It represents God’s people—the remnant those whose minds are stayed on God. 

And who does the Lord say he is? He is the keeper of the pleasant vineyard.

He is pictured as a gardener who takes care of the vineyard, waters it, and protects it from harm night and day.

His care is not occasional, not seasonal. Night and day, it means that he doesn’t stop watching over his vineyard.

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This passage reminds me of the image of Jesus as the true vine.

John 15:1–3 says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

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Here, “cut off” and “prune” are two different actions.

The action of cutting off symbolizes judgment, while pruning symbolizes discipline—a process we need to go through in order to bear more fruit.

There is a very important image and a hidden meaning here.

Jesus says that since he is holding us, like branches connected to the vine, we have life only when we abide in him.

When we are cut off from him, we will wither. But there is one more thing we need to remember:

abiding in the vine doesn’t mean that we automatically bear fruit.

We need to be pruned. We need the constant care of the gardener - night and day.

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Last Thursday, I met some missionary friends of mine from Australia.

They have been serving in a small church in a small town for almost ten years.

Recently, they went through a very difficult situation with several problems happening all at once, so they had to return to Korea very quickly.

They have a 14-year-old child. The father, who is a missionary, was diagnosed with a serious illness and is planning to undergo major surgery.

The mother was also diagnosed with some medical conditions.

I have one favor to ask you. My missionary friend is meeting with his surgeon this Wednesday to discuss his surgery and set a date.

Would you pray for him? Pray that God would guide the doctors, give them wisdom, and give my friend and his family peace and strength.

Most of all, pray that they would continue to trust God, even when they don’t know what is going to happen.

We don’t know what God’s plan is. We don’t know when “the day” will come. But we know who our Keeper is.

So let’s pray that they will remain in the true Vine and trust the Gardener, night and day.

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