God’s Pruning: Cultivating New Life Through Death

What’s the opposite of a green thumb? Because that’s what I have. It’s as far away from green as you can get. I’ve killed succulents in a matter of days. Succulents. Those are the plants they say grow and thrive the easiest out of all house plants.

Apparently not.

I don’t kill all my plants, but they certainly don’t flourish. No matter what I read or how I change up my methods, they just sit in their pots, looking exactly the same day in and day out. No buds. No growth.

It wasn’t until I read more about pruning that I understood why. The concept of pruning seems simple at first glance. It makes sense to carefully cut away at the dying leaves and branches, for those areas invite pests and disease. But what proved confusing to me — and still does, if I’m honest — is the idea that you are to also prune back areas that appear healthy.

The question of why immediately jumped to my mind upon reading that guide to pruning. And what I found was that, while some branches might seem healthy, they crowd the plant and prevent new, abundant growth.

Something must die in order for new life to grow…

A Painful Process

I’ve experienced this death in my own life. What is more, I know I experienced this death at the hand of my heavenly Father. Because God, an ever-loving and magnificent Father, prunes me just as I prune my house plants.

The spiritual truth of pruning is not something God has hidden from us. For Jesus directly told His followers what role His Father has in the lives of His children.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2, ESV).

As someone who has grown up in the church, this verse is not unfamiliar to me. But when God began to prune me last year, I never realized just how painful the process could become. Especially if I held onto that which He desired to rid me of in my life.

My pruning began with my relationships. Slowly but surely, one by one, God pruned certain friends from my life. I didn’t realize the extent of this at first. It started with someone I dearly love leaving me behind as she carried on with new friends in her new stage of life.

Cut.

It continued with others I thought were close to me but discovering I was not a part of their circle.

Cut.

And it carried on through a sister in Christ apologizing to me for the fact that she did not think highly of me, though she didn’t say why.

Cut.

It’s uncertain what exactly is God with shears in hand and what is simply the currents of this world. Did God prune all those people from my life to remind me He was my One constant? Maybe. Did He prune those women from my list of friends to reveal to me that nobody, not even my husband, could fulfill my deep-seated desire to be chosen? Potentially.

I am unsure if God directed those wounds, but one thing I am certain of: He used them.

God Wasn’t Finished

I would have rejoiced if the pruning ended there. But God had more to strip away from my soul. This time, God chose a two-for-one and added my husband to the list. Together, we struggled through a season of yet more pruning.

We watched as God allowed aspects of our church life to die. What once were areas of joy turned sour in our souls. We tried all we could to cling to that which God was pruning. We had come-to-Jesus conversations in the midst of conflict. We pushed through the awkward moments. We prayed and prayed again for guidance.

But God said no. This too must go.

And so we walked away from certain areas of church, knowing God directed our steps. But what we didn’t know was that God wasn’t finished. He still had pruning shears in hand.

Abiding in Him

I wish I could tie these areas together and say I understand all reasons as to why God pruned those areas from our life. But we began to realize a common thread in those moments of pruning: God desired to strip us of our pride and self-reliance. And so He allowed some things to die in order to begin cultivating new life.

We didn’t realize the extent of our pain from this pruning until we sat in our church pew listening to a sermon one March morning. Our associate pastor preached on John 15:1-11. The vine and the branches passage.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5, ESV).

Abide. What a beautiful image of our place on the vine. To wait, remain, endure.

Our pastor pointed out that when we abide, we produce fruit. And we can abide when we saturate our lives and souls with the words of Jesus. If we wait, if we remain, if we endure, we can trust the Gardner. We can trust in His character and know when He prunes, we can rest in His truth.

I sat and listened to that sermon, fighting back my tears. Until that moment, I hadn’t understood that maybe, just maybe, God truly was pruning us. He was pruning my heart to rid me of fear of abandonment. He was pruning both our hearts to rid us of our pride and idealized versions of certain areas of church.

God was pruning us. And hearing the truth that God does so for those He loves freed me from clinging to that which God was pruning. In that moment, I knew it was time to embrace it all.

Leaning Into the Pain

What I loved most about that sermon, aside from the revelation of God’s pruning shears, was seeing the truth of God’s love. He cuts off completely those who bear no fruit. But He prunes those whom He knows has the potential for more fruit.

So I decided to embrace the pain. To lean into the pruning.

For me, that meant crying on my bedroom floor, telling God how much it all hurt. For our God is not afraid of our tears. He does not turn away from raw emotion. Glance through the Psalms to gain a clearer picture of that truth. No, our Comforter understands. And He’s ready to steady us in the midst of the pain.

I lamented over my pain, and then I told God to continue pruning. If He began a work in me to cut out that which was stifling growth, then I wanted Him to carry on and prune. Which is a dangerous prayer, yes, for that is one God will affirm.

Over the next few months, my husband and I began leaning into God’s touch. I had to overcome the mentality that pruning should only take a quick snip. Together, we began praying more, asking God to strengthen us in the midst of the pain.

And strengthen us He did.

Experiencing New Life

Pain doesn’t last forever. Even though the areas where God has pruned can still sting, our pain is slowly fading.

God desires to strike off the dead areas of our lives. Those areas produce no fruit for Him. They do not resemble His character, and they do not glorify His Name. But He also cuts away areas that, to us, appear like growth. Upon closer examination, though, we see how they stunt cultivation for new life.

The relationships God pruned from my life were certainly not dead relationships. They did not cause me harm in and of themselves. But by pruning them away, God revealed to me my dread of abandonment. He revealed the lie that I had to change in order to be a friend who fit in with the crowd. And He revealed how I easily cling to people instead of to Him.

Cultivating new life.

The areas of church God pruned away from me and my husband were not, again, areas that caused disease. But upon pruning, God revealed our pride. He revealed our need for a few close friends in our lives instead of attempting to do it all. And He revealed how taking a back seat can open up other doors of opportunity.

Cultivating new life.

Once we began to see God’s pruning as new life instead of as death, the pain began to fade. Little by little, slowly but surely. And it can for you, too.

For His Glory

God is cultivating new life when He prunes. Yes, the process hurts more than we’d ever desire to experience. But we must trust in God’s character instead of cling to our pain. For if we don’t, we give the devil a foothold to come in and attempt to destroy.

If we do not abide in God’s Word, we can mistake pruning for punishment or unfaithfulness. We might ask God why and remain unsatisfied with His answer. When we don’t saturate our lives and souls with the truth of God and His desires for our lives, we will be more prone to believing the lies Satan whispers in our ears.

The lies that tell us God has left us to fend for ourselves. Or the ones convincing us we must cling tighter to that which God desires to remove. It’s not so bad, after all. Why does God need to take it from me?

I attempted that, and it did me harm where I intended it for good. I attempted to fight for what God desired gone from my soul. But the more I fought, the more miserable I became. The more I was convinced of the lies.

We must not allow Satan to damage our thoughts like that. We must instead take hold of God’s promises and remind ourselves our God does all things for His glory. He would not cut off something from our lives that proved worthy.

When we abide in God and bear the fruit of His Spirit, our Creator is glorified. If the evidence of a healthier life were not enough, surely knowing our pruning glorifies God truly is enough!

So take heart, dear friend. Know your pain will not last forever. Remember God only prunes those He knows can bear new life. And know that sometimes, God allows something to die in order to start cultivating new life!