A Time To Bear Fruit

The Lord ministered to me with a cucumber. 

I went out to my garden yesterday evening to prune my inordinate lemon cucumber vines, hoping to give them one last chance to bear fruit. I was willing to try whatever might work to save them, and had decided that a hard pruning was my best bet. Neither lack of pollination nor lack of fertilization were the issues as to why they weren’t producing, so cutting back the excess so all the nutrients could go to fruit production seemed like my best option. 

As I began to cut back the vines, I was surprised to find hidden deep within, four beautiful cucumbers. Underneath all that extravagant growth, and out of hundreds and hundreds of blooms that produced nothing, were hidden at the center where no one could see, four little gems. If I had made the call to prematurely destroy those plants simply because of what was visible, I would have lost the hidden fruit. 

The moment I laid eyes on those cucumbers, I almost cried in humility. The Spirit ministered to me in that moment that He is the only one who truly sees all there is to see, and He is the one who tends to fruit production in ways that we simply cannot perceive. He reminded me that we must not get discouraged by the outward appearance of things because we don’t know what last-minute fruit He may be secretly developing deep within.

This morning as I prayed, I said, “Lord, I know You see and I know You hear, but I do not know why You don’t act. But I also know that You act in ways that we simply do not perceive. Help us to be patient and trust in You, more than we trust in what we see.”  

(Rom 11:2-5) God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

(Ps 17:8) Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings

(Ps 31:19-21) How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues. Praise be to the LORD, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege.

(John 7:24) Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.