You Can't Sprint Out of This One

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.
- Gen. 8:22

Those lines are part of the promise that God makes to Noah after the flood. Amongst other things, God is guaranteeing that seasons will come and go. And it’s not just talking about summer turning into fall. There are seasons of work and seasons of rest. There are seasons of encouragement and seasons of discouragement. There are seasons of frivolity and seasons of lament. Seasons are part of what it means to be human.

One of the things about seasons is that you can’t rush them. Sure, you can pray for a hard season to change and you can take initiative to set yourself up for a new season. But it’s really hard to control the weather outside or the weather inside.

Yesterday we talked about a verse from one of the most famous chapters of scripture: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” - from Psalm 23. We noticed how we don’t get to RUN through the valleys… we have to walk there.

And yet, the psalm continues on to say, “But you are with me” and that’s what makes all the difference. God is with us in the good and the bad, the dry and the wet, the up and the down, the employment and the unemployment, the looniness and the relational fullness. So much of the spiritual life is learning to pay attention to where God is in our lives at the very moment, not waiting for the season to change before we find God in the newness.

List a few words to describe the kind of season you are in right now. Then take a moment to ponder where God is during this particular season.