“I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in Me and I will remain in you.” (John 15:1-4a NLT)
If you’ve ever had a serious cut, you understand that it isn’t pleasant. There’s a lot of blood and pain and the healing process can be long and troublesome. Unfortunately, that’s not the kind of “pruning” the Lord does in our lives. I say “unfortunately,” because in many, if not most cases, physical pain is much easier with which to cope than spiritual and emotional pain.
The anguish caused by loss often involves a lifelong process of healing. Our own illness or that of a loved one can be stressful, painful, and hard to deal with its implications. Why does the Lord allow us to suffer in these painful ways? Why would He allow us to go through these often long and heart-wrenching trials?
As is often the case with the hurtful, painful issues of our walk with the Lord, His purpose is never to make us bitter, but to make us better. Gunner Gundersen says it this way: “The vinedresser prunes the branch not to multiply hurt but to multiply fruit.” What does that mean?
It essentially means the Lord allows us to struggle to make us stronger; He allows pain to make us more compassionate and caring for others; He allows disappointment to build our trust in Him, not in our own plans; and He postpones answers to our prayers to build our perseverance and confidence that He knows best, and His clock keeps perfect time.
In some ways it’s like learning to ride a bicycle. Few take off riding on their first try. It took me many times to gain balance and learn how to ride, but even after gaining some measure of skill, I still had “wrecks.”
The “pruning” process of learning almost anything is painful. It involves trial and error, learning what works and what doesn’t, who to listen to and learn from and who to ignore, where to find resources that are helpful and useful and where not to waste our time looking.
We must learn to view “pruning” as training. In our walk with the Lord, we must “train,” for example, to be students of God’s Word and spend time in prayer. It takes time to do those things, which means we’re going to have to “prune” our schedules. There’s only 24 hours in the day, so we have to work with what we have.
If I’m accustomed to spending “X” numbers of minutes or hours a day watching TV, scrolling through my phone, iPad or computer and conclude I don’t have time to read the Bible or pray, what needs to happen? I need to “prune,” I need to carve out time from my otherwise “busy” schedule to make time to do what I believe the Lord wants me to do.
In my life I’ve found there are few things as helpful, meaningful, and satisfying as allowing the Lord time to speak to me through His Word or have Him listen as I share my heart with Him in prayer. These bring nourishment to my soul, as important as eating is to my body.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 