The Divine Gardener
I was laying in bed wrestling with questions about the future. My heart was hurting so I decided to pray. A few seconds later, I heard the Lord very clearly whisper to me, “I am the divine keeper of your garden. Let me tend to your garden, Maria. Let me water the trees that are dry and prune the branches that are bearing fruit.” Immediately, John 15 came to mind:
“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.” (John 15:1-2 NLT)
You’ve likely heard this scripture before but what does it look like practically in our lives? To prune means to cut off branches from a tree so that it will grow better in the future. The Bible alludes to believers as “trees” or “oaks of righteousness”. So we, as trees, can expect that the Lord will prune us or “cut things off” that enable to us to bear more fruit. Fruit being the evidence of Christ’s power working in us and walking as Jesus did on the earth.
When a branch is cut off it is no longer connected to the root system. It no longer has the nutrients or water to sustain it so it dies. Trees don’t feel but I imagine if they did this would be a painful experience. Similarly, to have any part of us stripped away is likely going to be an uncomfortable and painful process.
Now, God isn’t going around creating circumstances to inflict pain on you but He will certainly use your suffering to bring about transformation in your life. James chapter 1 verses 2-4 says to count it all joy when suffering and trials come your way because when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. If we let trials and suffering produce endurance in us the Word promises that we will become perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Here’s an example: Perhaps you have found yourself in a season of waiting. Maybe you’re waiting on direction, provision, healing, or an answer to prayer. No matter what the waiting looks like for you, it is likely bringing to the surface some areas of your heart that you don’t completely trust the Lord. You may begin to question if the Lord will really fulfill these things in your life because you’ve been disappointed in the past. It also may bring about a deep sense of discontentment which then brings in to question whether you’re finding contentment in the fulfillment of your promise or the Promiser Himself. Hopelessness and discouragement may then set in because you believe things in your life will never change. You feel stagnant, like fruit rotting on vine.
However, the reality is if that fruit were to be harvested too early, it would taste bitter and not sweet. You may not have the character, the endurance, the patience, the right heart posture and so on to sustain the promise that you are waiting to be fulfilled. For instance, if you believe the Lord has forgotten you in your waiting, then it’s likely that you don’t really understand the Lord’s character and you need to go deeper in pursuing relationship with Him. In that place of deeper intimacy, you will learn to find contentment in Him alone and that will allow Him to prune some of that bad thinking that is being exposed.
Just like the branch that has been cut off and is no longer receiving life giving nutrients, God wants to stop feeding that bad thinking and remove it from our hearts and character. He wants us to learn to be content in Him and the painful part about waiting is that it exposes where we really put our trust. But if we’ll lean into those moments and repent (choosing to change our mind) about those beliefs the Lord is faithful to cut those lies off from our lives.
And when we truly see the Lord’s character, we are able to reflect who He really is all the more clearly to others. However, if we’re a poor reflection of Christ because we’re still carrying our own pain, lies, and bad thinking, then we may hurt people’s perception of who God is and His heart for them. And ultimately, we’re likely to produce fruit that will not last.
The truth is though, if God made that promise to you, He will be faithful to fulfill it as long as you continue to be faithful to Him. But it will likely not be on your timetable or look the way you expect - it will be better. That’s His promise... not mine.
