God's Call To You: The Pruning hook

I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels like they’re in a never ending season of back to back blows. It feels like it’s one thing after the other thing. This season has been more rain than sunshine and more tears than smiles. No this season is not bountiful, but a season of necessary pruning. In Judges 6, Gideon finds himself to be in an identical season. In a moment of desperation, Gideon found himself in a wine press, threshing wheat to hide it when he received a call from God, to become the savior of his people. Ironically, he was already doing the work that God wanted to do in him. Often times we find ourselves wanting to be separate from the work that he asks us to do not realizing that we’re apart of that work as well. It would be so easy to tell others what they should be doing and not walk in that same path. Perhaps this is precisely why God sent Jesus, to experience firsthand what it means to be human. By doing so, Jesus can empathize with our challenges and insecurities. Those same insecurities often keep us stuck in our personal “wine press” when God is calling us to be greater.

Gideon did not find himself on a pruning hook but down in the wine press. A pruning hook is similar to a wine press. Instead of crushing grapes for the juice, a pruning hook is used to tear away what no longer serves a branch so that it may continue to grow and bear fruit. John 15:2 says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Gideon tried to get out of what God was asking him to do, but God did not budge. Gideon’s only choice left what was to surrender to the process of what God was trying to do through him as He declared “Go, with the strength you have.” Regardless of your current position in life or the resources at your disposal, remember that with God, even the limited amount you possess is sufficient. Our insecurities scream that we aren’t enough but it’s true, without God we aren’t enough. The same reassurance he gave to Gideon, is the message He gives to us. In vs. 16 The Lord said “ I will be with you”. Let's always remember that no matter where God leads us, it's His presence makes the difference in our situation, not the resources or the people around us.

If you’re currently in a pruning season and you're in a position where the resources are limited and the people are few, I pray that you move forward with God anyway. Allow God to prune your heart of all that needs to be cleared so that you have room for Him to grow. When we allow God to grow in us we can then push out all of those negative insecurities and witness how God lifts us up from our lowest points, just like He did for Gideon, raising him out of his wine press.

It's in the pruning and threshing that we find ourselves letting go of all the fears, hesitations, insecurities because we emotionally cannot carry them anymore. Like Gideon, God calls upon us to be instruments of salvation for His people. Therefore, let us follow in the footsteps of our Savior, setting aside our own interests, and recognizing that it's not solely about ourselves, but about rescuing the lost and those in need of redemption. One thing I am certain of is that Christ has already given us victory over our insecurities. Our only job is to walk in that victory. Through His sacrificial death on the cross, Christ took on the burden that was never intended for us to bear. At the cross God poured out his wrath against every evil and oppressive thought that He never intended for us to carry. It died buried with Christ, and three days later He rose to leave it buried there. If Christ left it buried, then let it remain beneath you so that God can show himself mighty through you.

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