Seasons Of Change
April 2021 |
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1
The Truth About Seasons
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything. One of the truths that the Bible declares is that as long as the earth exists, seasons will continue. These seasons are regarded as needful by God, and they accomplish certain things in nature that help provide for the earth’s well-being.
It seems that human beings are often slated for a journey through different seasons as well. While many changes are hurtful, or seemingly so, the changes we experience can oftentimes lead us to something new, even something far better—something that God has set into motion for us.
If you find yourself in a season of change, or you recognize one of the seasons that I am about to describe, don’t be alarmed. Hopefully, this little article will help you to recognize what God is doing. We must all be prepared mentally and spiritually to pass through seasons of change. We must consider that God just might alter life as we know it. The one thing that stands sure in this life is that all things change. It seems that God must move us out of the old before He can present to us something new.
The Season Of Summer
Summer is most people’s favorite time of the year. Growing up, summer included a magical time of warmth, sun, swimming, water skiing, fishing, sleeping late, and long car rides to visit relatives. We spent time climbing in the mountains and staying up until the stars came out. The weather was absolutely marvelous. It was pleasantly warm. The trees stood in the height of their glory. The grass was a bright green and hay waved at you from the meadow. Summer is the season where everything is going your way. The job is what you want it to be. The children are behaving. The wife is satisfied. Summer is a significant season of joy and peace and rest and enjoyment. There is no one that does not deserve a summer season from time to time. As believers, we will find that only God can give a perfect summer season. If you are in a summer season of life, enjoy it. But recognize that it may not last forever.
The Season Of Fall
Fall is the season when we recognize that change is beginning to occur. The weather turns a little cooler. The leaves change color, drift to the ground, and are blown haphazardly about by chilly, gusting winds. In some sections of the country, fall puts on a colorful display in nature that is absolutely breathtaking. It all speaks of a change in progress; a time when the promise of change is whispered. Sometimes God will make us uncomfortable in the place where we had once experienced summer. We begin to see evidence of the signet seal of change around us; it is obvious. Here is when a little unrest may come into your heart. A bony hand of fear may reach into your innermost being and squeeze the previously contented spirit. The mind may become distracted by potential scenarios as you attempt to discern what lies ahead. While you cannot yet see the changes, you know they are on the way. They are coming. This is a fall season.
The Season Of Winter
Fall always transcends into winter. In different parts of the country, different things happen. But for most, wintertime is present when the leaves from the trees are all gone. The earth looks and feels bare. A chill wind whips through the forest unhindered by foliage. Animals scurry to the warmth of their dens or settle down for a winter’s hibernation. When we experience a season of winter, it is a time of death. It is a time that features empty and cold. It is a time when nothing seems to be going right. In the fall we saw some evidence of change, but in winter it’s a season in which things are eliminated. Have you ever had anything die when you least expected it? And time crawls slowly, lasting forever in the season of winter. We long to be warm again. We long to be whole again. We long to be … in summer. At some point in time, the season of winter will come.
The Season Of Spring
The good news is that winter must finally yield to the coming spring. Springtime is when hope begins to rise within the heart and mind. Finally, we begin to see what God has been doing. The misery of winter’s cold—the starkness, the emptiness, the doubt, the fear, and the uncertainty—begins to fade away. The green foliage of hope and prosperity break through the frozen ground, and the first spring flower exhibits its beauty. Birds come out of their “time out,” eliminating the memory of winter as they begin to sing a joyful song. The earth begins to warm, and nature begins to rejuvenate and reproduce, separating itself from its temporary prison of death and bareness. Deadness gives way to rising life. This life is brand-new. It is a renewal. It is a revival. There is a sense and feel of being refreshed and renewed. We will not always understand why God allows seasons to happen, but we must believe that God sees them as necessary.
Return To Summer
I know the seasons of our lives don’t necessarily follow nature’s seasons year by year. There is no certainty as to how long any individual person might find himself in any certain season. But of this I am overwhelmingly convinced: God is faithful, and if He has me in winter, then He has also prepared for me a moment in time for spring. Soon after spring will come the relief and reassurance of another summer.
Seasons exist in our lives because God sees something about our lives that needs to die in order to produce something new and life-giving, something beneficial for His kingdom and our lives. Make no mistake about it, life is seasonal. There won’t be just one go-round of seasonal change. Change is sure to happen again and again and again. If we will but look to Christ and trust in His marvelous grace to supply us with what we need in every season, we will discover Him to be the ever faithful one. He is an ever merciful and kind God. Keep your eyes on Christ and, before you know it, you will once again be singing the songs of summer.
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