God’s Plans Don’t Change With The Seasons….

King Solomon was a knowledgeable man who thought a lot about life.  Ecclesiastes 3 reveals his contemplations in the well-known passage on the seasons of life, “To everything, there is a season”. The band ‘The Byrds’ put these thoughts to music in the familiar song Turn, Turn, Turn!

Sometimes life is exciting, dynamic, and we feel on top of the world. At other times we just want to go away and escape our situation.

These feelings will often correlate with the different seasons in our life. Some seasons are very distinct, others less so. Being single and wanting to be married – for most people it’s only a season. There are seasons of unemployment and seasons of prosperity where work and finances are abundant. There are seasons of good health, and seasons of ill-health and sickness. There are seasons of fruitfulness and there are also seasons of hard labour. You may be experiencing one of them today. Right now, our Year 12’s are in a season of study. Their season of schooling is also drawing to an end.

Some seasons clearly reveal to us an understanding of the workings of God in and around us, and others, despite our greatest efforts, fail to show HIM at all. Whatever the season you find yourself in, and whatever the length you feel you have been in it, here are some things to consider. They may encourage you to continue to appreciate the fruitful time you’re experiencing or stay steadfast and press on through the valley you’re in right now.

No matter what season you are in, no season lasts forever

Change is always on its way. Like a coin with two sides, life has a way of changing. My mother used to always encourage me by reminding me that “Good days follow bad days”. Likewise, we can hang on to the hope that bad seasons come and go, as do the good seasons.

Change of seasons is not a sign that you are a good or bad person

Bad things do happen to good people. Take the story of Job for example. He had good seasons, but he is remembered for the terrible time of oppression and loss he faced whilst remaining a righteous man. Do not assume that you are worse than others if you suffer loss or go through a trial.

Never let the season you are in define who you are

Don’t change what you believe according to what season you are in. People often make bad decisions in tough seasons. When you are in a challenging or difficult season, be careful what meaning you give things. In the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, we see that the season of prosperity was preceded by pits and prison. Character can be developed in the pits and the prisons. God’s plans don’t change just because seasons do. God’s plan for Joseph to be a great ruler never changed because he was put in the pit or in the prison. God is still with you whether you are in a pit, a prison or a palace.

Learn from every season that you are in

Every season has lessons of life for us. In Joseph’s life, God’s plan was for him to rule, but before he ruled he was ruled over. What you may be learning now might help you be wiser when you next go through this season, or may be useful when a friend goes through a similar season. Things learnt in your dark seasons can enable you to minister hope and stability to others who will face these kinds of things in the future.

God is at Work in Every Season

The Lord was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house. The Lord blessed him and favoured him. We can be confident that God is working things out for our good no matter how things are going in our external world. God’s main purpose is to prepare and form us for eternity, to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. When we understand that, we can understand that we are not going to have easy seasons all the time. Whether we see fruit in our current season or not, God is still at work, preparing something good for us.

In tough times where health, money, friends or marriage are not looking good we may wonder what is going on? But God makes us beautiful through all the trials and circumstances in life. It is during the tough seasons that we often grow the most in our character. It is difficult to form outstanding character in seasons of pure prosperity. This is one reason why God ordains seasons where we have to fight, where things do not come easily.

So, don’t despair if you are in a tough season right now.  God is with you in it and will bring you through.