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The pruner has four tools:
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He uses his fingers to pinch off dead blooms.
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He uses clippers for selective pruning and removing a spike or rogue shoot.
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He uses shears to shape plants for a well-rounded appearance.
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He uses a saw to cut heavy wood to restructure the plant.
Pruning helps us be more spiritual.1
When we came to Christ, many of us brought baggage from our old lives—old habits, attitudes, and ways of thinking about others and ourselves. The Vinedresser set to work cutting away anything that does not look like Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). As time progresses He chastens us to make us more fruitful (Hebrews 12:1–11). Amy Carmichael wrote, “A wise master never wastes his servant’s time.” No matter what happens to us, God is not wasting our time. He is educating us; He is improving us; He is molding us.
There are some “mountain heights” of spirituality that can only be reached by going through the “valley of suffering” (2 Thessalonians 2:10–12; Psalm 119:71). Hard times can build good character (James 1:2–4; 1 Peter 1:7). Ralph Waldo Emerson was once approached by a concerned and inquiring person who said, “Mr. Emerson, they tell me that the world is coming to an end.” Emerson calmly replied, “Never mind, we can get along without it.” We all need to learn that we can “get along without” the world.
Suffering is an effective teacher in the school of life, and some lessons are only learned at her feet. This is why dedicated Christians often have to go through suffering. God uses the furnace of affliction, physical injury, disease, prolonged sickness, difficulty in rearing children or respecting parents, financial problems, or other overwhelming cares to develop spirituality (2 Corinthians 12:7–8). A young woman was suffering greatly and confided her frustration to an older Christian friend: “If God loves me as you say He does, why did He make me so?”
The older woman replied, “He is making you now.” God’s purpose is to prepare us for heaven.
Pruning tests our faith (Genesis 22:1).
It tells whether we are “gold, silver, precious stones” or “wood, hay, stubble” (1 Corinthians 3:12–15). The worthiness of the ship is not determined while it lies in the harbor but when it rides the waves of a storm. Our faith too must be tested during life’s storms.
During the Great Depression a good man lost his job, exhausted his savings, and forfeited his home. His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his young wife. The only thing he had left was his faith. One day as he combed the neighborhood looking for work he stopped to watch as men did stonework on a church building. One was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot it would fit, he asked. “Where are you going to put that?” The man pointed toward the top of the building and said. “See that little opening up there near the spire? That’s where it goes. I’m shaping it down here so it will fit up there.” Tears filled the hurting man’s eyes as he walked away thinking of the words: “shaping it down here so it will fit up there.” He found new meaning in his difficult situation. “Behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.”2
Pruning makes heaven more attractive to us (2 Corinthians 4:16–5:1; Hebrews 11:10; Colossians 3:1–2).
One observed: “It is through our tears that we see the farthest into heaven.” Perhaps Paul suffered more than any other New Testament Christian; he also seems to have been the most attracted to heaven. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:21–23).
“WOW.”
If a vine’s branches could speak, they would eventually rejoice at how they look and how much fruit they could produce. Pruning hurts, but it also helps. We may not enjoy it, but we need it. At the time, it hurts when He removes something precious from us; but as the spiritual crop is produced, we see that the Father knew what He was doing. The end of the process produces a self-satisfied, “Wow!”—like when the hair stylist finishes and a lady sees how much better her appearance is.
The pruning process doesn’t just last for one day or a week or a year. We can never say, “Well, I’ve been through that, and I’m glad that’s over.” The pruning process doesn’t happen all at once, or once for all. It takes a lifetime. The heavenly Vinedresser continually removes from us what hinders our productivity.
The greatest harm God could bring to us is to leave us alone. A child whose parents leave to himself may soon appear dirty, ragged, and ill-mannered. His clothes will not match or be appropriate for the occasion. His hair may become long, dirty, or uncombed. God accepts our immaturities at conversion but loves us too much to leave us that way (Hebrews 12:10–11). He does not leave us to ourselves because we don’t do well as spiritual orphans. Jeremiah said, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). The wise man said, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). God, through His Word, gives us:
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Light in a dark world (Psalm 119:130).
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Understanding in a wondering world (Psalm 119:130).
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Knowledge in an ignorant world (Proverbs 2:6).
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Approval in a rejected world (2 Timothy 2:15).
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Stability in an floundering world (James 1:3–6).
Domesticated bullfinches are placed in a dark room for weeks before learning to sing. When brought back into sunlight, their song is sweeter than it would otherwise be. God takes us into the dark room of suffering so that when we come back into life’s sunshine, our song of praise will be sweeter than ever before.
The Vinedresser knows what He is doing.
Endnotes:
1 These point adapted from Thomas B. Warren.
2 J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book.