The Farmer and the Father

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus. 

Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

John 15v1-8: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.”

Going Deeper:

At the moment, we are all living in tough conditions, and I think that most of us are feeling more uncertainty, anxiety and higher stress levels than normal. 

On top of that, I know for me, it has felt like God has been highlighting a number of things that He is wanting to work on in my heart. Things like self-righteousness, pride, anger, and impatience. Things that have been hidden for the most part, or that I’ve been able to ignore, that are now being revealed and dealt with in me by His Spirit.

It feels like He is pruning me. Taking hold of parts of my life that he wants to remove, and even cutting back things in me that are healthy and good. And maybe you feel the same. Maybe in this time, you have felt God pruning parts of your character, the ways you relate to others, some of your habits and behaviours, or even pruning your plans and dreams.

Which means we are living in tough conditions, and living through a tough process.

That pruning can feel quite violent and unpleasant, and leave you feeling quite vulnerable. And living through an unprecedented global pandemic can leave us feeling tired with uncertainty, fear and the unknown.

But while reading John 15 recently, I felt the Holy Spirit lead my eyes up to verse 1. And highlight that the Farmer who prunes, and plants us in tough conditions to grow, is also called our Father.

Our Father in Heaven. The one we are taught to pray to. The one who loves us, who chose us and adopted us, who gave His only son for us, who is kind and good and perfect in all of His ways. That farmer is the same gracious father who looks at us with love and a beaming, proud face.

And the reason that He allows us to grow up in harsh conditions, and prunes us by cutting back parts of our lives, is so that we would be more fruitful.

Not to hurt us, or punish us, or teach us a lesson. His pruning is to do the thing I deeply desire: To help me be more fruitful. To help me be more like Jesus. And bring God more glory. And to produce a beautiful wine with my life.

This pruning is a gift from a loving father, not punishment from a shear-crazy farmer.

And not only is God’s pruning a gift to us. But these seasons of difficulty are also a gift to us, to produce even more fruit in our lives.

I’ll end with this extract from a blog post on the Desiring God website, which I really resonated with while meditating on John 15:

“Great wines come from low-yielding vineyards planted in marginal climates on the poorest soils. Though hard on the vines, these tough conditions are good for the wine, because the vines that are stressed must work harder to produce fruit, which leads to fewer but more concentrated and flavourful grapes.

By contrast, the vines used for bulk wines have it easy. They are planted in the fertile soils in ideal climates of regions such as California’s Central Valley. Such regions are great for producing tons of grapes to fill up the bulk fermentation tanks, but not at all great for producing the complex, intense flavors needed to make great wine, because the vines are not stressed and the yields are way too high.

I think this paradox in nature — stressed vines produce good wines — is also a parable for how God produces rich, complex, intense faith in his children. Because when it comes to faith, God loves good wine.

When God makes wine, he makes really good wine (John 2v7–10). And when it comes to your faith, he knows that really good wine is made in the vineyard.”

Pray:

Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?