Be Still And Know

John 15:1-2 I often drive past a large vineyard. When the vines are not in leaf there are few sights more unattractive. Just lines of contorted branches looking completely dead and useless. But then, in the spring, they burst into life and gradually produce the fruit for which they have been carefully cultivated. The whole purpose of a vine is to produce grapes, and a gardener will be absolutely decisive in the way in which they prune it to ensure the best possible crop. In the growing season, dead branches must go, and good branches are carefully pruned to encourage even more growth. The picture of the vine is often used in the Old Testament. It was God’s intention that Israel should be his vine. Psalm 80: 8-11 describes the way in which God brought the people out of Egypt as transplanting a grapevine, clearing the ground for it to take root and fill the promised land. They would have room to spread their branches all the way to the Mediterranean in the west, and to the Euphrates river in the eas