John 15:1 - I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. 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.



Have you ever had the feeling that your problems just don’t seem to go away? That every time things start to look up, something else goes wrong. Gilda Radnor’s book is titled “It’s always something.” When you were searching for God, someone probably told you that all the answers to your problems were in Jesus. And then when you accepted Christ, the you-know-what just hit the fan. The verse above explains why.

A while ago, I wrote an article about a friend of mine that was a new Christian and how his girlfriend had cheated on him and left. I also wrote about how devastated by this he was. It’s perfectly normal for him to feel that way. It’s also perfectly normal for us to question God in circumstances that we don’t understand. Our small human minds can’t possibly comprehend the things of God. His perspective is so much bigger than we will ever know. I believe there are some things that we won’t understand until we stand before Him at the judgment before the throne.

Events like Columbine and the World Trade center and the Pentagon are some examples of things that happen and we are baffled as to why God would allow them. We hear people say things like, “If God was such a loving God why would He let so many die?” I always just shake my head because all I can do is trust God and ask Him to help my friend to trust Him too. But what about the little things that happen everyday like when we have every bill due at the same time and we have no money? Or just when we can take a vacation, the engine in the truck goes out and we wreck the other car we own, and then someone gets sick…. What is the purpose of these kinds of things? Is this just God with a sense of humor watching us run around like chickens because He’s bored?

That’s where John 15:1 comes into play. We are supposed to trust the Lord in all things. The little things only help to train us to trust Him in the big things. Complete trust and love are things we, as humans, have to learn to do. When we are teaching our kids to drive we have to let go of the steering wheel. It’s the same way (kind of) with our faith in God. We have to give the wheel to Him and trust that we are going to go in the direction He wants us to go. We will meet the people He wants us to meet and have the conversations He wants us to have. In every situation there is God. “Ask and it shall be answered, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door shall be opened to you.” (sometimes even when we are not looking) When the going gets tough, fall to your knees and praise the Lord for caring so much about little ole you. For without that pruning and cutting away we would never be what He made us to be. Remember who you are. A beloved creation of the ever-present God.