Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
If you live in the South you know without a doubt the immediate shifts and changes throughout the seasons. You have two major contrasts between the seasons. We either experience a blistering hot season in late spring and throughout the summer. Or we feel the temporary rigid freeze in the fall and winter months. Within a typical year there are four seasons. These are times of shifts and changes in the atmosphere. There is a period of acclimation that happens during these phases of change.
When God gave the instructions to Joshua to lead the children of Israel to their Promised Land, there was a shift and transformation in leadership, and in the seasons (Joshua 1:1-2). The children of Israel were leaving from a season of doubt, fear,confusion, disobedience, and wandering in the wilderness. In the wilderness God taught the children of Israel how to rely on Him. God also performed many wanders in their lives while in the wilderness. During this season, God pruned the children of Israel in isolation-- in order to display His Glory and Power on the other side of the wilderness where the World could see.
They were instructed by God to prepare to enter into their promise. My point here is, had the children of Israel not been equipped during their season in the wilderness, they could not handle, or would mishandle, or even miss the opportunity to even enter the Promised Land. God gives us individualized tasks and opportunities in different seasons and phases of our journey. He prepares us and fashions us in and out of ever-changing seasons. To know when to prepare for a season is to also recognize when another season has come to an end.
Back to Joshua, when the leadership shifted to him after Moses died,(Deuteronomy 34:1-5) this was a new season for the Israelites. The roles changed and the children of Israel were entering into a season of battle (Joshua Chapters 5- 13). They had to clear out the land of it's sinful inhabitants and take back their rightly claimed land God wanted them to possess.
Throughout life sometimes shifts and changes in seasons are obvious. I know for me and many others with the pandemic coming to an end, we're coming out of our seasons of isolation, for some-- unemployment, and also reflection. Now that we're going back to some sense of normal; what we encountered during the season of the pandemic could have been a time of preparation for what we're experiencing now. Maybe some people reestablished a relationship with God, or spent more quality time with family members. My aim is that no season is wasted, and each season serves its own specialized purpose. Anytime there is a change in your season it is God's strategic plan for you to move. The children of Israel couldn't stay in the desert forever, but once they had to move God prepared them with the instructions, and disciplines to help them once they crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 1:3-11).
There is a season for every thing. When you are sensitive to your Spirit you know when God is moving you to a new season. You can discern what you need to do in obedience to move forward to a new change God has for you.
I'll close with this, you wouldn't wear a trench coat in August, just as you wouldn't wear a tank top in January. We acclimate to the seasons we're in, and we prepare for the seasons we're entering. In the same way, we can rely on God to be with us in whatever season we are facing.
Comments