"And this I do that, perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil."
Jacob 5:59
This is part of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, which is overall about the world and how the Lord takes care of it and encourages the good and prunes the evil only when he is certain that the pruning won't kill the rest of the tree, and when he has lost hope that the tree can again start producing good fruit. For anyone who hasn't read the whole thing, I definitely recommend it. I think that it shows how much the Lord really cares for us and does everything he can to save us.
In this verse, the Lord is talking about pruning some of the evil branches of the tree and grafting in some good branches in their places, hoping that the roots will take strength and show their goodness again... that the good will overcome the evil. And even though he was talking about large populations and peoples, I think maybe this happens to us as well, on an individual level. As we go through life, some things get cut out and some things get added... and it can be incredibly painful and stressful and disruptive to our lives, and often we have no idea why it is all happening. In retrospect though, I think sometimes we can see how God was helping us. Usually, what we thought we wanted to be back then isn't anything like who we are now... and this is better. And to get us here, God had to trim here and there, and sometimes graft our lives into a whole other place. ... It doesn't always work, because sometimes we're more stubborn than that, and we hold fiercely onto our bad habits and when we lose one bad thing, we immediately look around for another. But sometimes, with God's help and a desire to change, the pruning and grafting and careful reshaping of our environments helps us to make those changes in our lives that we've been wanting to make, but needed assistance and motivation to achieve.
Today, let's bear with patience and faith the pruning and the grafting in our lives. Let's remember that there is always a reason, and the temporary pain or stress will result in a better life and a better self, if we work with God to make it happen.
Jacob 5:59
This is part of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, which is overall about the world and how the Lord takes care of it and encourages the good and prunes the evil only when he is certain that the pruning won't kill the rest of the tree, and when he has lost hope that the tree can again start producing good fruit. For anyone who hasn't read the whole thing, I definitely recommend it. I think that it shows how much the Lord really cares for us and does everything he can to save us.
In this verse, the Lord is talking about pruning some of the evil branches of the tree and grafting in some good branches in their places, hoping that the roots will take strength and show their goodness again... that the good will overcome the evil. And even though he was talking about large populations and peoples, I think maybe this happens to us as well, on an individual level. As we go through life, some things get cut out and some things get added... and it can be incredibly painful and stressful and disruptive to our lives, and often we have no idea why it is all happening. In retrospect though, I think sometimes we can see how God was helping us. Usually, what we thought we wanted to be back then isn't anything like who we are now... and this is better. And to get us here, God had to trim here and there, and sometimes graft our lives into a whole other place. ... It doesn't always work, because sometimes we're more stubborn than that, and we hold fiercely onto our bad habits and when we lose one bad thing, we immediately look around for another. But sometimes, with God's help and a desire to change, the pruning and grafting and careful reshaping of our environments helps us to make those changes in our lives that we've been wanting to make, but needed assistance and motivation to achieve.
Today, let's bear with patience and faith the pruning and the grafting in our lives. Let's remember that there is always a reason, and the temporary pain or stress will result in a better life and a better self, if we work with God to make it happen.
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