II. Pruning is protective

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from the book: "God Knows You’re Human"
by Terry Virgo

God, the great gardener, knows how to cut back His plantings in order to protect and guard them. David was never out of His sight. God was watching over His servant and stayed actively at work in his life. He knew that David was still a young man. If he continued to receive fame and adulation, would he be able to cope with it? Would he be able to withstand the many temptations and dangers that would come his way?
David went from national celebrity to living as a fugitive, holed up in a cave. In that setting he learned a great deal and ultimately emerged with a committed and disciplined army. God used the pruning to protect him from the spotlight.
A while ago, I saw on television an interview with a member of a famous rock group. He was over forty years old but he was still trying to work out what life was all about. At the time he was battling alcohol addiction. The problem began because he could not cope with the unexpected effects of international fame. He admitted, ‘I’m still living like a teenager.
Church history shows that apart from notable exceptions such as Whitefield, Spurgeon and McCheyne, God has allowed few young men to be very prominent in His church. God loves His servants too much to give them that sort of responsibility too soon, so He protects them from it.

Pruning is painful

Pruning is inevitable. We are told in John 15 that God cuts the branch that bears fruit as well as the one that does not. All branches encounter the Lord and His knife. None of us can escape it: the fruitless He removes; the fruitful He prunes. Sometimes God seems to strip away some very precious things: people you love, a job that was important.
Sometimes God almost breaks your heart when He prunes you.
I remember a time in my own life when I felt shut in, lonely and sore because of God’s pruning. I was in London, walking with a friend in Regent’s Park. The rose bushes were all very short, no more than stubs in the ground. I remarked to my friend, ‘Look how they have ruined those rose bushes.’ He dispelled my ignorance. “To have good roses you must prune them right down,” he said. I can still remember the strange sense of pain mixed with comprehension as he explained the process to me. Have you been through that too? You feel cut back — a dry, leafless stub. Remember, though, that God knows what He is doing. Be patient and say with confidence, ‘Father, I receive it from Your hands.’
One minute David was riding into battle with brave, trained soldiers on the right and left. The next minute he was in a little cave with the three “D”s’ — the Distressed, the in-Debt and the Discontented — a motley crew, shut in, cut off.
You can be pruned in all sorts of ways. Perhaps you have moved to anew town. In your previous church you used to be an elder or a leader, but in this new church you have no such position of responsibility. Perhaps, as a single person, you were very independent, but now that you are married you are no longer so free to do what you want. You have to learn to build a relationship, and that means thinking about the other person’s needs as well as your own. Perhaps you and your partner once enjoyed a great deal of freedom, but now you have children and all the time-consuming responsibilities they bring. Or perhaps you, or a member of your family, were once healthy and active, but now illness has come and you are shut in.
David was shut in. Are you? Do you say, ‘O God, I envy the freedom and progress others have. Some of them are only young, but they're receiving such blessing from You. Why am I not? Why am I so cut back?’ It’s painful, isn’t it? But God knows what He is doing with your life. It’s time to trust Him, because He has a reason for doing it.

“God Knows You’re Human” by Terry Virgo on Amazon

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