He does all things well (Mk. 7:37). If that’s not one of the “official” attributes of God, I’m thinking it should be. Something I read in Isaiah this morning has me thinking it.

In chapter five, Isaiah the prophet becomes Isaiah the singer. The Spirit of God moves the herald of God to sing a song of God. A love song to a divine Vinedresser concerning His vineyard, the house of Israel. The Vinedresser established the vineyard. He cleared it of stones, and He planted it with the best of the best vines. He set a watchtower over it to care for it and, in anticipation of the fruit it was to bear, He built a winepress in the midst of it. But instead of producing a yield worthy of His labors, “for all His pains He got junk grapes” (MSG). Twang!!! The song hits a sour chord.

And then, through the prophet, the Vinedresser takes over the song.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

(Isaiah 5:3-4 ESV)

The Vinedresser did everything He could to set up His vineyard for fruitfulness. He provided everything for the bride He had called to faithfulness. But at the core of rotten fruit, at the center of an unfaithful bride, was a bad heart. A heart infected by sin. A heart prone to loving created things more than the Creator. A heart wanting to serve self more than serve the Sovereign. And so, the vineyard, beyond being a warning against rebellion and disobedience, sets us up for the Vinedresser’s 2.0 planting. A vineyard sown in hearts made ready to receive the implanted seed.

Hearts cleansed of sin through the sacrifice of the Vinedresser’s own Son. Hearts justified and freed from the penalty of sin through the shedding of the Son’s own blood. Hearts regenerated and credited with the Son’s own righteousness, a righteousness it was now able to live out through the Son’s enabling Spirit. Hearts made new so that the Vinedresser’s redeemed vineyard would produce fruit. Good fruit. Fruit befitting the kingdom of heaven.

What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it?

He does all things well. Having loved His own He loves them to the uttermost — with the full extent of His love, to end of time, for all eternity (Jn. 13:1). He loves them perfectly, enabling them by grace, disciplining them in His goodness, forming them into the very likeness of His Son. What more to do?

No more.

Our God does all things well. O let us worship our God!

Let us rest in His goodness. Let us revel in His thoroughness. Let us abide in the true vine bearing His fruitfulness (Jn. 15:5).

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.