Isaiah — Chapter 27
"At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
There's something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
so that no one can damage it.
I'm not angry. I care.
Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I'll just pull them out
and burn them up.
Let that vine cling to me for safety,
let it find a good and whole life with me,
let it hold on for a good and whole life." Isaiah 27: 2-5
Ever seen Little Shop of Horrors? You know, the movie/musical about a crazy talking plant that eats people? Obviously, it's not based on a true story, but it's weird to think that there are carnivorous plants out there. Actually. When they snap shut, it almost makes you think they have a mind...like they made a decision to do that. Even non-crazy plants, some of them turn and face the sun, as though they're consciously choosing to do so. Now, I'm no scientist, but I have eaten my veggies and weeded my garden; I've yet to find a brain inside any plant (though cauliflower nearly had me fooled). So what makes them tick?
The above passage mentions a future (or a past/present) where God Himself plants and tends a vineyard. Think "Eden". Think "Heaven". Think "God would probably be an awesome Gardner". Quoted in the first-person, God says that He'll quell His anger with any sort of bad produce, He'll prune and tend lovingly, and He'll watch over and protect it. Then He says "Let that vine cling to me for safety, let it find a good and whole life with me, let it hold on for a good and whole life." How?
In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus says "I am the vine; you are the branches" (verse 5). He also says "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener" (verse 1). Here, we are again warned to cling or to "remain" as part of the vine. So how do we remain? How do we cling? Clearly, all analogies or parables break down at some point, but what about this one? Plants, though mindless, will move in order to survive. Why do they do this? Simply because that's what plants do. It's how they were made. Perhaps we were designed to gravitate to the Lord. Yet...there's a struggle. It feels like we're being pulled, like someone's trying to yank the grapes off before they're ready. That must be why Jesus says (again in John, this time the 10th chapter) "My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand" (verses 27-28). Flock of sheep or a vineyard, either way, it's plain to see that there are forces working against us.
So God's words in Isaiah ("Let that vine cling to me for safety"), in light of Jesus' words in John ("I am the vine"), seem to say that if we have faith in The Vine, faith that He was who He said He was, faith that He can cling regardless of what was/is/will be thrown at Him, than we can rest assured that no one will be able to take us from His grip.
Plants cling by instinct. We cling by faith.