John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
When we moved into this place five months ago, the bushes in front looked terrible. The yard hadn't been cared for in so long that the bushes had grown into the trees, pulling down the branches, creating a thick wall of dry, dusty and intertwined shrubbery and blocking out the sunlight. Almost everything in the front yard was dead from lack of sun and sometimes even rain.
A couple of months ago, we inquired as to how much it would cost to cut all that dirty mess down so that we and the yard could receive a little sunlight. We found a reasonable price and the next morning two men came to start the job. About half way through the day, we were starting to feel for those guys as by this point all of us were realizing that they had terribly underestimated the work it would take to tear this thing down. What was supposedly only going to take a couple of hours, took all day long. From morning till dark, they hacked at that wall, and still had to return the next day to collect all the branches and leaves as it had already become too dark.
When the sun came up that next morning we felt it, and we stepped outside to see results. It looked, well.... horrible! The bushes and trees looked even more homely and uninviting than before. And now that the light shined brightly into our yard, the dryness and ugliness of everything showed in a way we hadn't seen it before! We were so disappointed.
But only two months later, the bushes, the grass, the flowers, everything is nice and green and beautiful!
Here's what we learned. In order for the sun to come in, the dross has to be cut down. At first, a lot of ugly things will be exposed. But as the sun shines down with all its nutrients and the rain moistens and washes away what was once all dry and dirty, little sprouts of fresh life begin to sprout and with time, before you know it, everything becomes new and any evidence of the old disappears.
Hmmmm. So it is with our hardened and dry hearts. We need to clear away the dross and let the Son come in! We needn't be discouraged when we see the results at first -- just keep allowing His nutrients to nourish us and His rain to wash us. Soon you and all our neighbors will see a beautiful thing grow and they will probably want to know how they too can get their hearts looking so nice!
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Traditionally in Jewish spirituality, these 40 days of prayer and repentance beginning the 1st of Elul to Yom Kippur parallel the 40 days that Moses spent on the mountain [Exodus 34:28] pleading God’s forgiveness for Israel’s sin of creating and worshiping the golden calf. Interestingly, Psalm 27 is read each day of the month of Elul, along with the shofar blast in preparation for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
As we continue our study for Elul, a month set apart for repentance in preparation for the fall feasts, we find a message hidden in the four Hebrew letters spelling the name of this special month. Alef-Lamed-Vav-Lamed form an “acronym” for a well-known passage in the Song of Solomon: Ani l-dodi v-dodi li or in English, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
I happened (on rare occasion) the other day to see a CNN headline, “Health Officials Brace for Three Major Viruses this Fall”. Immediately, I thought, “Not again!” Yet, scouring the headlines, it now appears that several colleges are instituting mask mandates even though there isn’t a case of illness yet. While the world is being prepared for an “outbreak” of disease, I’m hoping we may learn a lesson from history so that, perhaps, we’ll see an “outbreak” of revival!
As we enter this season of Teshuva (Repentance) during the month of Elul, we enter a unique season approaching the Fall Feasts. This month initiates a 40-day countdown to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and is traditionally known as the time the King would visit His people.
As we continue our study of the men who followed David, another characteristic was their ability to war.They learned how to battle with both the right hand and the left hand for hurling stones. If you have ever thrown a ball, you know that you can aim effectively with your dominant hand — but try it with the opposite hand — it’s far more difficult to throw accurately. But the men that followed David learned to throw with both arms effectively! It must have taken months of training to develop such skill.
When David was a fugitive from Saul, the men who followed him recognized his rightful place as King of Israel, and they developed a deep loyalty to him, this little band. As we read yesterday, these men were transformed from distress, debt, and discontentment [1 Sam. 22:1-2] into becoming mighty men of war. Having joined David, they quickly realized that they were joining a conflict.
Last night, Jewish people around the world will mourn Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar year. Some of you may know that a lot of bad things have happened to the Jewish people on this date, the first of which was when the spies returned with an evil report of Canaan, the Promised Land, recounted in Numbers 13 and 14. Both the first and the second Temple were destroyed on this exact date, hundreds of years apart. The Crusades began on this day in 1095. The Jews were expelled out of England on this day in 1290, and again were expelled from Spain and Portugal on Tisha B’Av in 1492. And there are many more examples of this infamous day in Jewish history!