Seasons: Embracing the Season and Trusting God

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven, (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

A season, a time for everything under Heaven. We watch the seasons change every year. In spring, new life begins. In summer, the sun bathes creation in its glow, bringing growth and abundance, and sometimes heat and drought. Fall brings coolness and the beginning of rest for nature, while winter brings the dormancy and death required for the next spring, which is just around the corner. This cycle goes on and on, just like our lives. God designed everything, every activity under Heaven, to have a season. All creation must have seasons to grow according to His perfect plan. Seasons allow us to be molded under Heaven in preparation for Heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:14 tells us, “Everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken from it.” What a revelation, a word that speaks to the infinite God! While His Creation, including nature and us, His children, must endure seasons, those seasons are meant to give us moments of new growth and life, abundance and drought, rest, and at times, dormancy. This passage in Ecclesiastes goes on to make profound statements about seasons and the finite time we have under Heaven, while pointing us to the promise of Heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:2a, “A time to be born and a time to die.” We are here at this time because God designed it that way. The lifetime we have under heaven is finite and filled with seasons that God designs. Yet, because of Christ and in Christ, life after death is infinite in Heaven. Revelation 21:4 tells us that in Heaven, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He then goes on to tell us in verse 21:5, “I am making everything new!” What a glorious statement! I envision it as a season of perpetual spring and summer, when all things are new and flourishing, absent from the fallen condition we endure under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:2b, “A time to plant and a time to uproot.” In the first part of this verse, we are reminded of God’s sovereignty and the finite life we live, along with the glorious promise of infinite life in Heaven, absent from sin and death. The second part provides a picture of the cycles in our lives: seasons of family, friendship, careers, and all the changes this amazing life brings. When we are living in His will and walking in the Spirit through Christ Jesus, God calls us to plant roots. Many of us have experienced times of planting in our families, raising children, building friendships, and developing careers—as well as many times of uprooting throughout the various stages and seasons of our lives. Sometimes planting and uprooting happen quickly, without warning, and at other times it may occur in a planned, sequential order. How we manage these times of planting and uprooting demonstrates our full dependence on God. There have been times in my life when I have clearly heard God’s plan and listened, and in those times, things flourished. There have also been times when I chose to keep my feet planted in a place that no longer served the purpose God had for my life or the life of my family. God allowed me to remain in my stubbornness and self-reliance, but it was not easy. I often look back on those times and thank God for bringing me back to Him and never leaving me, even in my disobedience. I have also experienced sudden, unexpected uprooting that left me so confused, heartbroken, and lonely that my only option was to fall fully at the feet of Jesus.

In this sudden ripping apart of roots planted deep in my life—an experience I am still going through—God has planted abundance in a way that I am only now beginning to see. There was a long season of winter, and as with any new beginning and new growth, there is pain. It is often easier to sit in the winter, in the dormancy, in the sleep, and let the world continue around you. It is much more difficult to embrace the new growth and new birth of spring. I encourage each of you to embrace the season you are in now and hold tightly to the promises of your Father, who loves you. Cling to the feet of Jesus and embrace the prompting and stillness of the Holy Spirit.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “He has made everything beautiful in his time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.” God put eternity in our hearts and made everything beautiful in His time, from beginning to end. Throughout the seasons of our lives, remember the promise of eternity. Embrace the season you are in because, no matter the season, God is working and making all things new. Trust the process, and focus your thoughts on His goodness, purpose, plan, and promise. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Prayer: Father, You placed eternity in my heart, and You make everything beautiful in Your time. Father, in this season of my life, help me hold on to Your perfect plan and promise. Give me the wisdom to be still and listen, to plant when I am in a season of planting, to uproot when You call me to uproot, and to trust You in all things. Not my will, but Yours, Father. We praise You for this season, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.