God of all seasons (Ecc 3:1-8)
I joyfully welcome you to November - the eleventh month of the year. Our theme for the month is “God of all seasons.”
I am reminded of a song by Hillsong titled “Seasons”. It is a song about God being a God of seasons, and how He works in us the nature of patience, even as we learn to trust Him through the many seasons of our lives. You see, life is in phases, and in many seasons. There are good times, there are trying times. There are times when our faith is stretched to capacities we never knew we could believe to. There are times when we have to wait, trusting God’s judgement and timing, believing that He knows what He is doing and that He makes no mistakes.
To understand God as the God of all seasons, we need to understand His sovereignty over time. You see, the God we serve is the author and controller of time. Daniel understood this when He said, “…there is a God in heaven…He changes the times and the seasons…”The God of seasons is the God of time. He alone can determine the length of any season; He alone can cause one season to end and another to begin. Regardless of whatever season one may be in life, it is important to know and believe that God can change seasons in the favour of His children, and that He is still God in all seasons. Seasons come, seasons go, but our God remains the same. The God of the harshest of winters is still God of the sunniest summers and the wettest fall. The God of the valley is still God on the mountain. Circumstances do not make Him any less God than He is, neither will He become more God than He already is. He is God across all time, in every season.
In seasons of grief, He is our comforter, our strength, our stay and the health of our countenance…
In seasons of lack and need, He is our sufficiency, our provider, our sustenance…In seasons of joy, He is our song, our joy, the spring in our steps…In seasons of uncertainty, He is our light, our guide, our way, our assurance…In seasons of silence, He is our teacher, our mentor, moulding and building us, shaping us into His perfect will… In seasons of waiting, He is our hope, our reassurance, our anchor, teaching us to trust even when we do not understand… He is hope to those who are in seasons of hopelessness; a father, friend and companion to those who feel forsaken…
In whatever season we find ourselves, and life is essentially made up of many seasons of varying lengths, He manifests Himself as Who we need Him to be….
David wrote psalms about who God was to him as he transitioned from one season of his life to another.
Seasons reveal God to us. We get to understand God as shepherd when we need direction; we get to understand God as our defence and salvation when we feel helpless and threatened. Joseph grew more intimate with God through his trying seasons.The Bible records that until his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. By the time God changed the season in his favour, he was set above and made ruler of the substance of Egypt. At the end of it all, he testified about how God’s purpose all came together.
It won’t rain all through the year, nor will it snow endlessly. The sun will shine, there will be dry seasons. Together, these seasons beautify and balance nature. Different seasons, but there is One who remains unchanged through it all. Who is this you ask? He is the GOD of all seasons, the author and writer of time. He will cause seasons to change in your favour!
On a final note, whether you are in the Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter season of your life - whatever season of life you are at, it is crucial that you remain faithful to God. And Ecclesiastes 3 has something for you - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Life is not random. God created the universe with structure, order and purpose. He laid out a time and a season for every purpose.
I pray for you that, as each of the four seasons of the year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) is marked by particular weather patterns, beauties and daylight hours, resulting from the earth's changing position with regard to the sun - may God bless and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, beautify your life to suit the current season of your life.
In the series, we shall thank the God of all seasons, we shall consider the 3 Ds (Distressed, Debted & Discontented, 1Sam 22:1), Anointing & Appointment, You are not forgotten (Isaiah 49: 14 -18), and no more dryness (Genesis 26: 1).
Peace!
ENJOY THESE QUOTES:
God has time and seasons in His Hands…He changes times and seasons - Daniel 2:21.
Life is in phases, men are in sizes. Keep in step with God and He will change you phase by phase.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory - II Corinthians 4:17.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever! - Hebrews 13:8.
Storms come for a reason. They also come for a season. Discover the reason, and become wiser; outlast the season and become stronger. But NEVER quit!
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven - Ecclesiastes 3:1.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you - 1 Peter 5:10.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing - James 1:3.
We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation, this hope will not disappoint us - Romans 5:3-5.
Surely there is an end….and this too shall pass - Proverbs 23:18.