Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV) "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:"
I really dislike Winter. I don't enjoy being cold. I dislike dreary and dirty. I like sunshine. I don't mind being hot and I love pretty. Summer is pretty. So many times I ask God send me someplace warm. However, here I am in the heart of West Virginia where we experience all four seasons. I do think that Winter last the longest and even if it doesn't perception is reality.
It's the same with our spiritual seasons. It always seems as though Winter last the longest. Those season when like the trees we feel naked and exposed. We feel as though we will never be warm, loved, beautiful or at peace every again, but we will. Just like the trees of the field.
When we think about our spiritual lives in terms of seasons, I think there is a benefit to it.
It helps us to understand that there are different stages in our spiritual lives. That different internal and external circumstances play a part in the seasons that we go through.
For example, a mother or father with 3 young kids, or someone who is serving as a caregiver for someone else, will likely have a tough time growing spiritually for themselves as they have to care for others. I am not saying that must be the case, but often it is.
Another benefit to see our spiritual lives as seasons is that it helps us to have hope that if we are in a season we are not happy with, we can do something to begin to move to a more positive season.
And the truth is my spiritual life is like this. I have gone through all four seasons in my own spiritual life, from high and optimistic to low and pessimistic.
And if you think that a Christian should be always on fire for the Lord, well, for people who live near the Equator, they might always be hot, but for many people, they experience different seasons of life, including their spiritual life.
Abraham had his great faith moments, but he also demonstrated lack of faith in his life too when he lied about his wife. David had spiritually close experiences with the Lord, but he also sinned against man and God. Jonah was a coward before he was courageous.
Most men and women in the Bible experienced their spiritual life as a series of ups and downs and not always ups. So I think there is validity to think of our spiritual lives as composed of different seasons.
If that is the case, then I have put down some key words for each of the seasons to better help us understand where we might be in our own spiritual life.
A. Spring
Hopeful, emerging, budding
B. Summer
Fruitful, blessings, growing
C. Fall
Weakening, fading, cooling
D. Winter
Cold, lifeless, dead
If you don't like the Season that you are in begin to praise God for the new season to break forth speedily. Begin to make plans for your new season. Make your new season "to do" list. Begin to schedule time daily to seek God for the direction you need in your new season. See yourself doing what you love. Just like the longest night has already passed for this year in the natural and it is beginning to stay daylight longer, your longest night is behind you as well.
Daniel 2:21 - And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Genesis 8:22 - While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Acts 1:7 - And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Galatians 6:9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Psalms 104:19 - He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Psalms 1:3 - And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
It's the same with our spiritual seasons. It always seems as though Winter last the longest. Those season when like the trees we feel naked and exposed. We feel as though we will never be warm, loved, beautiful or at peace every again, but we will. Just like the trees of the field.
When we think about our spiritual lives in terms of seasons, I think there is a benefit to it.
It helps us to understand that there are different stages in our spiritual lives. That different internal and external circumstances play a part in the seasons that we go through.
For example, a mother or father with 3 young kids, or someone who is serving as a caregiver for someone else, will likely have a tough time growing spiritually for themselves as they have to care for others. I am not saying that must be the case, but often it is.
Another benefit to see our spiritual lives as seasons is that it helps us to have hope that if we are in a season we are not happy with, we can do something to begin to move to a more positive season.
And the truth is my spiritual life is like this. I have gone through all four seasons in my own spiritual life, from high and optimistic to low and pessimistic.
And if you think that a Christian should be always on fire for the Lord, well, for people who live near the Equator, they might always be hot, but for many people, they experience different seasons of life, including their spiritual life.
Abraham had his great faith moments, but he also demonstrated lack of faith in his life too when he lied about his wife. David had spiritually close experiences with the Lord, but he also sinned against man and God. Jonah was a coward before he was courageous.
Most men and women in the Bible experienced their spiritual life as a series of ups and downs and not always ups. So I think there is validity to think of our spiritual lives as composed of different seasons.
If that is the case, then I have put down some key words for each of the seasons to better help us understand where we might be in our own spiritual life.
A. Spring
Hopeful, emerging, budding
B. Summer
Fruitful, blessings, growing
C. Fall
Weakening, fading, cooling
D. Winter
Cold, lifeless, dead
If you don't like the Season that you are in begin to praise God for the new season to break forth speedily. Begin to make plans for your new season. Make your new season "to do" list. Begin to schedule time daily to seek God for the direction you need in your new season. See yourself doing what you love. Just like the longest night has already passed for this year in the natural and it is beginning to stay daylight longer, your longest night is behind you as well.
Daniel 2:21 - And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Genesis 8:22 - While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Acts 1:7 - And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Galatians 6:9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Psalms 104:19 - He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Psalms 1:3 - And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
RSS Feed