Daily Devotion

“When God gives a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will make you in accordance with the vision He has given if you will wait His time. … Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on commonsense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure.”

Oswald Chambers · My Utmost for His Highest, January 19, "Vision and Darkness"

Scripture

John 15:2 “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, but he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it may bear more fruit.”

Reflection

"Pruning" in the present moment is often accompanied by the pain of loss and the emptiness of being stripped away. When God removes the supports we thought were solid, humanity instinctively feels the trembling of being exposed to danger. However, those withered habits, narrow prejudices, or excessive self-protection in life, if not thoroughly pruned, will steal the nutrients that should belong to the "fruit." The Father's pruning is never for punishment, but for refinement—as Chambers said of Abraham's thirteen years of silence, they were "a time of discipline, not of displeasure." He removes the veils before our eyes so that we can see that unprecedented spiritual realm from a higher perspective. Only when our comfort zone is broken will the branches of life have the space to stretch freely toward the light of Christ, ultimately bearing the abundant, lasting fruit of life that glorifies His name.