Times and Seasons
Do you remember how old you were when you first learned to tell time? In our culture, this basic life skill is often developed in the early elementary school years.
Truth be told, however, to really know “what time it is” requires wisdom, insight, and discernment at a much deeper level than simply knowing the relationship between the big hand and the little hand on the clock.
The Bible points us in this direction of a deeper understanding of times and seasons when it says of the men of the tribe of Issachar that they were: “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32, NASB).
In a similar way, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance, . . . .
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, NIV)
As the list goes on, this biblical writer is teaching us that the wise person asks God for insight to know the times and seasons and how to, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “make the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15, NLT). In a day gone by, they would have called it “redeeming the time.” It means “buying up” the opportunities and possibilities unique to each season.
Every year, as the calendar clicks from July to August, many nesting-stage families sense the “season” changing from summer-time rhythms to the more structured cadences of the school year. Perhaps there is a significant “season” change going on in your life as well. If so, be encouraged by this promise from God’s word:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:23-24, ESV)
I’m grateful that God is sovereign over all of our days, and we can count on his faithfulness in every “time and season” of our life.
I look forward to the next “season” of ministry at Ingleside, and I am confident that the best is yet to come!
Your Pastor and Friend,
