Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE KNIFE

This entry was posted on 10-01-2008 and is filed under uncategorized.

About 10 years ago I went "under the knife" for my first and only (thus far) surgical experience. Five days later I came out of the hospital as "an Israelite in whom there is no gall." (That is a bad pun meaning the surgeon took out my diseased gall bladder.) Today's text suggests that we all come "under the knife." That is, if we are a fruit-bearing branch for Jesus. But what is that knife and who handles it? "You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the Word which I have given you - the teachings I have discussed with you" (John 15:3, The Amplified New Testament).

The cleansing and pruning agent is the Word of God - the teachings of Christ. We know from Scripture that the Word of God is like a sharp, two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). It exposes and sifts and analyzes and judges the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. That's what the pruning knife of God does to us; always for our good - that we may produce more Juice for Jesus. "You people are already 'clean' [i.e., have been pruned of undesirable traits] because of [obedience to] the teaching I have given you" (The New Testament: An Understandable Version). When we hear the Word, receive it with gladness (Acts 2:41), and obey it from the heart, God is pleased. Going "under the knife" in spiritual surgery is for our ultimate good.

In his little book "The True Vine", Andrew Murray suggests that pruning "is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year...that has been produced by the vine itself. It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous the growth, the greater the need for pruning. It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away...After each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves. (This is) the cleansing and cutting away of all that is self..." Nothing is harder on our laurels than resting on them. We are constantly going under the knife of God's Word to cleanse us and make us more fruitful for the Father.

Prayer: Holy Father, help us to yield to Your divine pruning knife when we read or hear Your Word. Rid us of any undesirable traits and even take from us the successes of yesterday so that we might triumph tomorrow. Through Christ we pray.