God the Master Pruner

Jeremiah 27/John 15

Not only is God the Master Potter, but He is also the Master Gardener. In the OT, Israel is the vine He has chosen. In the NT, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. It seems so hard to take away what looks like new profitable growth on a plant. Yet, plants flourish under pruning when that which is just leggy and unproductive is removed. These take nourishment from the main vine and yet produce no fruit. A gardener knows pruning a vine helps the plant to bring forth much fruit. Unfortunately, as much as Jeremiah reminded his readers about God using Nebuchadnezzar as His servant to “prune” Judah from their idolatry, they listened to the false prophets who said Jeremiah was wrong. Therefore, God said He would use Nebuchadnezzar to be His master pruner for His vine Israel.

So it was with Judah with her thirst for idolatry. And so it is with us when we are also not bearing fruit.

The warning to the Judahites is if they refuse the pruning process under Nebuchadnezzar, He will prune even further, and as prophesied, so it happened. Josiah’s sons refused to lead the nation, and so God pruned them. The last pruning was King Zedekiah. Now the years of patient pruning began, and it would be 70 yrs. of Babylonian pruning.

How do you handle the pruning shears of God in your life?