Pruning

I just pruned most of the back yard. It took a long time and I got hurt a few times. I ended up with enough clippings and cuttings to be a few bushes. Now, the pruned bushes and trees look nicer and the ones that produce flowers will produce more flowers than they would have.

When we get sick, it could be that a random demon has bumped into us and attacked us. It could be that sin has opened a door through which unclean things have become fastened to us. A human could be hating us and agreeing with some demon, opening a door to our pain. Maybe we just got sneezed on by someone who didn’t care.

Or, it could be that a sickness, or a hundred other problems, could be a pruning operation. Yahweh understands pruning better than most observers. He is the Designer. He knows that when we finally start to bear fruit, pruning us will cause us to bear even more fruit. Once we grow back…

I imagine a fulfillment of the idea Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 being that fires come to test our work and our character. If we avoid the flames, we avoid having Christ formed in us, and our building skills don’t improve. When we face that final pruning by fire that Paul described, what’s left of us is a well refined tooth pick.

If we don’t avoid the flames, but allow them to burn off carnality and immaturity, as we grow back from the searing, we are stronger and more fruitful. We are better because of the challenge, attack, sickness, or whatever the pruning is, not in spite of it.

Our first response to adversity should be to ask Dad what He is doing and how to cooperate so that it happens quickly and effectively. Usually our first response is to call the devil a liar and start banging on him. Our enemies can’t touch us unless our God allows or commands it (see Job…).

Be transformed by having your mind renewed to see all things from Yahweh’s perspective, especially difficulties (and prunings.) Look for the prize in the box. Don’t waste time being discouraged that there are so few peanuts… Get the prize!