The Painful Process of Pruning

Have you ever wondered why it seems like God is taking you backwards? Why He strips away things that seem fruitful and productive? I remember a particular season when I was asking those questions. For five years I had prayed for a ministry position at my job, and then God opened the doors. In His typical way, the job was even beyond my expectations. It was far more responsibility and opportunity than I thought I was ready for, but I dived in. And I loved it!

After less than a year of serving in this role, things began to shift. The organization made some high-level changes and my boss was transferred to a different department. That change led to other changes and within a few months, I was completely unsure of what my role was supposed to look like. It felt like everything I had prayed for, worked for, and poured into was stripped away. I remember wondering, why? Why would God prepare me for this ministry only to take it away so quickly? Why would God remove something that seemed so important to the kingdom? Why would God move me out of this place when I had just started to figure out how to serve well there?

In this season of questions, I heard someone speak from John 15. The words of Jesus gripped my heart and I began to dig deep into His words recorded in this chapter. Here Jesus describes Himself as a vine and His followers as branches. Just like a branch cut off from the vine will quickly die and has no ability to bear fruit, we have to be connected to Jesus to live a fruitful Christian life. All of this I had studied before, but somehow I had missed a key portion of what Jesus was teaching.

In verse 2 Jesus says, “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2 NASB) These were words that I could not gloss over or run quickly passed. They were the words of truth that I needed to learn. When a branch is unfruitful, a gardener will cut that branch off completely, but when a branch is bearing fruit, a good gardener will prune it. Why? Because for that branch to continue to bear fruit and even become more fruitful, it has to be cut back. The best fruit-bearing plants all experience seasons of pruning. And the same is true for followers of Jesus. When we are serving God well we will experience seasons of pruning so that we can experience even greater seasons of fruitfulness.

In my mind, I had associated having something taken away as punishment. I thought if God removed things it was because I wasn’t doing well or was unsuccessful. And while there are times sin causes us to miss out and lose opportunities, there are also times when God cuts back to prepare us for the next season.

Listen to this description of a place without pruning given in Proverbs 24, “I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.” (Proverbs 24:30-31 NASB) We have all seen an old yard that was once beautiful, but over time, with no care, like this proverb, it is overgrown and in shambles.

Our heavenly Father is a good gardener. He does not want us to become overgrown and unfruitful.  When I think back to the painful season of pruning, now I see God’s hand preparing me for the next season of ministry. If it wasn’t for the painful circumstances, I may not have let go of what was in front of me. But God knew there was more, and He knew my heart and how to prepare me.

As you experience setbacks and unexpected pruning, remember, it is the fruitful people that God prunes. Not because they are failing, but because they are serving well and He wants to lead them into greater levels of growth and ministry.

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I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:1-2 NASB