January 27

Harvest of Righteousness and Peace

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

Selwyn Hughes, in his book, The Divine Gardener, says, "There is no way that we can be effective disciples of Christ except through relentless prunings—the cutting away of non-fruitbearing suckers that sap our energies, but bear no fruit." Why is it that we protest so at the prunings of our Father? Why do we struggle so? We need to stop resisting the Master Pruner's hand and rest in the assurance that He knows what is best for us. He knows which branches are sapping our energies and would be best lopped off. He knows how to make us productive and abundant in fruit. He can bring about a harvest of righteousness and peace. Without proper pruning there will be only small, immature and worthless fruit. If we want the fruitage in our lives to be worth something, it will cost something. The question is not, "Do we know better what we need to bring about fruitage than He?", but rather, "Will we allow Him to do His job?" When it is put that way, we must stop in our tracks and humbly ask for forgiveness for getting in the Father's way. Simply put, he does not need our help. The Master Pruner knows what He is doing; that's why He is the Master Pruner. We can trust Him. Let us allow Him to do His work and rest assured that He will bring forth abundant fruitage in our lives with the least amount of pruning necessary.

Father, help us to submit to the pruning experiences You place in our lives knowing that more fruit will be the result. Do what seems best, dear Lord and help us to trust You when we do not understand. We know that You will not cut away that which is necessary and so we wait on You, our Master Gardener, to do the work necessary for us to be fruitful for You.  Amen