In my Sunday School class this week we were studying Daniel 4, specifically, about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in which he was described as a great tree described as “enormous, large, and strong.” The tree provided shade and food for all those around it. Then a messenger came and called out that the tree should be cut down and the limbs should be stripped, however the stump should be guarded and protected by iron and bronze.

King Nebuchadnezzar called for Daniel to interpret his dream and Daniel had to give him the bad news that he was this great tree, however, when he was “cut down” his stump would remain so that when he acknowledged God’s sovereignty, he would be restored to greatness.

Sometimes we need to be cut down before we are able to fully bloom in all of the goodness that God wants to give us. We aren’t living the way we are supposed to and we have grown out of control. I’m sure you have seen bushes that get a “trim” once they have grown so large that they are out of control. We had a crepe myrtle that was growing all over the bed and taking over. It looked awful. There was no shape to the tree. It seemed to be more of a mass of branches and flowers than anything. So we cut it back - BIG TIME! There wasn’t much more than the main trunk and some smaller “main” branches. It didn’t look too good for a while. But, since then it has become one of the prettiest trees in the yard.

Going through the “cut down” phase is the hard part. If you’re being cut down right now, you can be confident that God is working on you so that you will be more beautiful than before.