June 14, 2001
"Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely.
Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.
Jeremiah 5:10
Oftentimes it's hard to see good in difficult or painful circumstances, especially when they hit close to home. Jeremiah wrestled to understand the goodness of God in the message of impending destruction that he was tasked to deliver. It's easier for us to see God's hand at work as we look back several thousand years later. But it's equally as difficult for me to see clearly when I am in the midst of those circumstances in my life. What helps me keep perspective is something that this verse highlights... the difference between devastation and pruning. God did not determine just to wipe them off the face of the earth because he has tired of their sinful unrepentance. He had determined to prune them as a nation, as a people because the way they were living kept them away from God. Devastation is when something is laid to waste or ruined with no ultimate good in mind. Pruning is a painful process by which you help something alive to grow and flourish to greater degrees by cutting of superfluous matter. God is cutting off what inhibits growth in our lives... that is the heart of God... not devastation. Everything God does for us, even when it feels painful and confusing is an act of utter and complete love because his eye is trained on who we can be if only this 'stuff' were not in the way.