When the Light Breaks Through . . .
Earlier this week I was talking to God (read: lamenting) about this season of my life, things He’s shut down, much I don’t understand. Like clouds hovering, in the moment everything felt dark and dreary. At one point, my thoughts began, it’s as if You’ve stripped—
Before I could finish the thought, it got interrupted. Corrected. A different word was substituted—pruned.
My whole posture changed. I sat forward. Pruned?
First, how remarkable is it that the Lord understands our thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:2)?
“Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.” (Psalm 139:4)
He could have let me finish my thought. Could have let me go on with my lament. Instead, He graciously gave the wisdom and understanding I needed. His light broke through the clouds.
I was being pruned.
I could hear the words from John 15:1-2—
“I am the 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.”
I’m sure many of you can testify—pruning is not a painless process. As the vinedresser, our heavenly Father, takes pruning shears to our lives and cuts the things that need to go, it often hurts. If it’s sin that remained unchecked, we likely already knew it needed to go—and the Lord graciously steps in to cut it off for us. But sometimes He cuts good things, things (or people) we love and enjoy, maybe even fruitful things He may have called us to for a season. But because He’s sovereign and knows the plans He has for us, He cuts those things knowing it will cause us to bear more fruit in the season ahead, for His glory.
One word from the Lord changes everything.
This word from the Lord that I was being pruned didn’t just shift my posture; my whole temperament changed. Yes, the pruning hurt, but I was already feeling the pain, already in lament mode. Now I understood why it hurt. My focus went to the lovingkindness of God in revealing the why—straight from His word. Then I began to dwell on the promise that comes with the pruning—that what was being stripped would actually produce more fruitfulness in Christ. The lament had suddenly turned to praise.
Cling as you go through.
ClingLife doesn’t mean we won’t go through. But I love that we can go through with the Lord. He cares. He listens. We can snuggle in His presence and tell Him it hurts. We can weep and lament, as David so often did in the Psalms. The circumstance may not change, at least in that moment. But the Lord is faithful to minister to us as we sit in His presence. One word from Him is powerful! The light of His word breaks through the dark and dreary. Our spirits lift, knowing He sees us. Though it hurts, we’re reminded that His loving hand is upon us. There is a divine purpose. And He will cause it to work together for our good and His glory.
Have you had a moment lately when one word from the Lord changed everything spiritually (though the circumstance didn’t necessarily change)? Anybody else in a season of pruning? How are you clinging in the midst?