In recent weeks, I (Randy) have personally been considering change. And, what the LORD wants me, and those I fellowship with, to be about.
For me personally, I am most likely in the latter years of my life. Now, I am 71. Not exactly ancient, but no spring chicken either. Now, no one knows how long they will have. I may live to 90 +. But, like most men my age, I have reached the point where I comprehend there is most likely much less in front of me (here, on this side) than there is behind me. I’m not morbid, just a realist. But, I will say I am more aware, and I think from the LORD, that I don’t want to waste what days, time, moments I may have doing stuff that doesn’t really matter.
For me that has involved considering things like giving less time to some avocational interest and changing some routines and schedules. And, to seriously and prayerfully consider if, and how, I should give more of myself and my time to the purpose and Kingdom of God. It seems the obvious answer to that is that I should “just do it”, right? I mean He wants my all, right? But, the issue is a bit deeper because I learned years ago the difference between a works/performance orientation and resting in Him. You see, I can dream up all kinds of good stuff to do. There is no shortage of needs to fill and fix, and stuff to do. And, I can work myself into exhaustion trying to work for God and the Kingdom. But, that will not accomplish His purpose. It will only frustrate me. You see, I don’t serve needs and the stuff that it seems has to be done. I serve the LORD. He wants me to work with Him, not for Him. So, I must hear from Him and do what He is asking/directing (often in the moment) if I am to be effective and work, that is co-labor, with Him in what He is doing.
Many have heard me wax eloquent too many times on the difference between Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. Martha scurrying about to serve the way she thought He wanted and needed. Mary, sitting at His feet so she could hear and know exactly how He wanted to be served.
I suppose the point is that nothing is constant but the Faithfulness and Love of the Lord… and… change.
Solomon said there is a season for everything.
[Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NASB95]
1 There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven–
2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
So He makes the point that there are seasons in life. And, just as we experience and tolerate climatological change every few months. So, do we have to adjust to seasons of change in life, ministry, work, relationships
However, our eternal God is immutable. He does not change. He moves in each season, and through each season, and reveals Himself in all seasons. He put seasons in His creation, I think, to show us that, although He as creator is immutable, He is always creating the new, bringing life out of death, and rejuvenating, restoring and giving the new beginning. His mercies are new every morning, although His judgment is just. His faithfulness is everlasting and His love endures forever.
Even in the midst of judgment He speaks through Malachi that although He will bring just judgment, because He is faithful in covenant they will not be consumed or destroyed.
[Malachi 3:5-7 NASB95] 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts. 6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept [them.] Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
We can rely on His immutable nature and His faithfulness, even if we have changed for the worse, or missed the season we are intended to be in.
[Hebrews 13:8 NASB95] 8 Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and today and forever.
Because I can trust Him in His immutability, I can also trust Him when I am in transition, or when the season is in transition and it seems everything is simply changing. Over the years I have had to learn to discern the season I am in and move through transition and change. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t missed it, at least a time or two, and moved, literally from one place to another, when I shouldn’t have, or tried to move into and make things happen out of my passion rather than His direction. But like the climatological seasons, He does give us signs when seasons are changing. The Spirit moves like the wind and we do not know where it comes from or where it is going, but we can discern its direction.
For me, a lack of peace and mental unrest is a sign. When peace leaves, and unrest invades my mind, my will, my emotions (my soul), I can be sure I have moved away from Him and His season/purpose. I have pulled my head out of the yoke while walking with/beside/alongside Him and gone to pull the load on my own and do my own thing rather than His.
[Matthew 11:28-29 NASB95] 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS“
There often seems to be a struggle between following the Written Word of God or following the Holy Spirit. But, I’m convinced that that is a subject of argument between believers, or sometimes in our own minds, that the adversary exacerbates for the sake of confusion. “What’s more important, God’s Written Word or the Holy Spirit?” he will say. It is a false question to distract our focus from what the LORD is speaking to me now through both. The Holy Spirit reveals what is in the Word, and He speaks. May God give us ears to hear and a heart to understand (to obey/do what He speaks) whenever and whatever He speaks.
Back to where I began. You may, like me currently, sense there are changes coming or needed and want to discern the season you are in. And, then move in it. Seek Him! He will answer! Because our God is immutable He is truly God for all seasons. And He, by His word, and His Holy Spirit in us, can equip us and move us into any season. Or, He can make us men/women/people for all seasons.
That is an excellent thing to contemplate. Sometimes, perhaps most times, it is less important to comprehend the season you are in, but to simply be prepared to go through, with and in Him, whatever season, and in any season. Paul exhorted Timothy to be ready in season and out to preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort, instruct. Being prepared will mean you have to be trusting Him, co-laboring with Him, enabled by the Spirit and grounded and confident in His Word to do anything.
Solomon after he outlined the various seasons recorded
[Ecclesiastes 3:11-12 NASB95]
11 He has made everything (beautiful) appropriate in its time.
He has also set eternity in their heart,
yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;
Let us keep focus on what God is doing in the moment, in the now. He has been working from the beginning and will unto the end, that day. He will complete the good work He has begun in us. He will complete good works He wants to do through us as we walk with Him. We may not see or comprehend all that He has done until the other side
Do not forget that everything is beautiful in its time. All seasons reveal Him and His nature and character. All hold a full dose of His beauty if, and when, we understand the appropriateness of the time we are in. If we discern the season and what God is doing.
Finally, think about this! As He is immutable and eternal…. and, He has set eternity in our hearts. That means there is an understanding, or at least a sensing, in us that there is more than this present time and moment. Eternity is in our heart and we, as believers, may even long to step into it, not fearing it and what is beyond. But in some sense we already have in Him. But, this time and moment is where we are, and where we live, and He has purposed us for just such a time as this, to reveal Himself through us in it, for He is in it and working in us as well.
As James says we may be a vapor that appears and vanishes away. Or, as the songwriter says, we are like a flower quickly fading, or a wave tossed on the ocean. But as they each have purpose and impact in His creation and in their season. So, do we in Him. So let us rejoice and do good in Him, whatever the season, for there is nothing better.