" . . . every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it . . . " John 15:2
I have several grapevines in my garden and each year I cut out loads and loads of long spindly vines, because I know that unless I remove these, they will take all the strength that should go into fruit. So also our precious Lord prunes His children. The knife is sharp and it hurts, but the Father knows best. No vine can be fully fruitful without "pruning."
The richest, the fullest, the most fruitful lives are those that have been in the crucible of testing, that have been broken upon the wheel of tribulation. We have no right to believe that God will do anything with our lives until He has broken us. There are in this world few entirely unbroken lives that are useful to God. There are few men and women who can fulfill their own hopes and plans without interruptions and disappointments all along the way. But man's disappointments are ever God's appointments; and what we believe are tragedies are only blessings in disguise, and the very opportunities through which God wishes to exhibit His love and grace.
There are some lives in which human plans are so completely thwarted that they seem pathetic as we look at them from a merely human standpoint. Yet if we but study these lives carefully, we see that the lives which have been afflicted are most effective. Are you, my friend, being broken today? Has the dearest in life been torn from you? Have all your dreams faded? Have all your hopes failed? Then remember that if you could see the purpose of these thorns in your life from the standpoint of God's wisdom and of eternity, if you could interpret these trials in this aggregate of life's blessings, you would be able to dry your tears and praise the Lord for them all. He will not withhold any good thing "from them that walk uprightly."
"Bread For Each Day"
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