Seasons

Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven."

I've heard this verse quoted so many times. Or, more commonly, shortened to just "to everything there is a season".  People tell you to be satisfied and content in the season you're in.

But what if the season is one of pain?
What if the season is one of trial?
What if you would like nothing more than for that season to end?

Have you ever struggled with something where you felt as if the struggle would never end, would never cease? Have you ever gone through a time of waiting where you just wanted to something to begin?

It's hard, when you wish the season you are in would end. There are times when we are so passionate about God, there are times when we struggle in our faith, there are times when we are waiting, and there are times when we're going through trials.

But the thing is, we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. And we were never promised a life without suffering.


So what do you do when caught in a season you wish would end?


Philippians 4:11-12, "I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.  I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need."

Paul figured it out. He learned that he could be content anywhere as long as he had Christ, who strengthened him.

"When you've hit rock bottom you have no place to look but up."

I've also heard that quote quite a few times (I think I paraphrased it though). It's true. Often it's at the end of ourselves that we turn to Jesus.

Like I wrote in my last post, we may not always understand what He's doing, but we can always trust in Who He is.

Psalm 42:5, "Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God."

Habakkuk 3:17-18, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!"

Those are two of my favorite passages in scripture. Why? Because they both have the same theme: Both authors, while they didn't understand what was going on, they still praised God.

That is such an important reminder to me. I'm a realist, and often I can feel a bit dragged down by the things going on around me. I can struggle with hope and joy. But no matter what happens, I know that I can and should praise God.

The problems, the sin, the trials in our world today aren't a negative reflection of God, they are a reaction to the choice of mankind when we chose to sin.

So yes, even when we don't feel like it, even when we're struggling, even when the world is in chaos around us, even when we don't understand.... we can still praise God.