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...and by his light I walked through darkness! JOB 29:3 NIV
Pruning by Pat Nordman
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"Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop." S. Rutherford, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, page 49. God desires a yield from each of us or He would not have created us. Job's friends were positive that his afflictions came from unconfessed sins, but here in John 15:2 we have the suggestion that it is the very branch that is bearing already that feels the knife. Lest we become disheartened to the point of wanting to give up, it is because God sees something worth pruning. It is the unfruitful branch that is cut off. Jesus was a tender shoot who was cut off at the prime of life. Many times it is the sensitive and the gentle who bear the brunt of the moral and emotional shocks of unexpected situations that seem to bear down on those who least deserve it. Yet the beauty lies in turning these experiences into God's glory and a beneficial use for others. God prunes us to get rid of our unproductive and ornate growth so that our dormant worth may flourish for His glory. If we remember this, we can accept the pruning more serenely and confidently. Good people are sometimes confused at the reasons and the means by which God cultivates his vineyard, his people, but it helps to remember that God knows what he is doing, even if we don't. |
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