Weekly Thoughts

3/4/07 – Seasons of life

Hi all,

I've been thinking about seasons of life, as so many of us are in the midst of transitions.

But first let me remind you to pray for our country. I know I send this out to pray-ers. Many will recall at the end of last year (or start of this year, I don't recall now) how I shared some things the Lord had put on my heart for the late February, March-June time frame, including a stock market drop and 2 earthquakes, a small one and a big one.

With the minor 4.2 quake Thursday in the Bay area, and the market hiccup this week, just keep things in prayer...as I said at the time when the Father alerts me on such things I take it that these things can be lessened or changed outright...so keep it in prayer.

 

Now to my thoughts.

Transitions always bring challenges - while the devil may be to blame for many challenges in the midst of these transitions, often the devil gets the blame for things he is not involved with. In any transition there is naturally turmoil, an increase in busy-ness, and important decisions to be made.

I love Ecclesiastes 3: 1-17 especially, which tells of timing and purpose in the seasons, and the first 8 verses mention specifically "there is a time" for various things - birth, death, planting, weeping, laughing, building, tearing down, and so forth.

The point is heaven seems to deem specific time frames or assignments for the seasons of life we go through. God IS in control. Even in Luke 4:13 after the devil tried unsuccessfully to tempt Jesus to sin, it says he 'left him for a season'. There was a time of temptation, and then the devil left. In this case, the enemy appears to have given up for the text says "after the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season." Sometimes it seems we have to just stand in there until the devil gives up - it's a matter of wills, and I always want to win that battle.

I am thankful that times of temptation and trial have a stopping point, and that the Lord will not allow us to be tested beyond what we are able, though it seems he pushes the limits at times.

So my thoughts turn to God's motive and perspective in these seasons of change and trial in our lives. Perhaps we would do better to see heavens purpose rather than turning our thoughts inward about how difficult things are.

The book of Deuteronomy is Moses' re-telling of the Law right before his death, to the children of those who had come out of Egypt. Their parents had died in the wilderness and now the kids are on the brink of the Promised Land. The parents had seen the plagues of Egypt and walked through the sea, but now their children are 40 years and younger, all born in the wilderness, and before Moses dies, he re-tells the Law to the kids.

In 8:1-5 he tells them to remember the previous 40 years and says this: "God led you these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commands or not...that he might make you to know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word the proceeds from the mouth of God...but your clothes did not fall apart nor did your foot swell (no illnesses) these 40 years."

Man sees a huge trial that is the wilderness experience. But God wanted them to know some things they could not know in any other way. He wanted to provide an opportunity for them to prove their faith, to prove their vision and purpose, and the wilderness provided that.

God says this is an opportunity for you to prove your faith, to prove your commitment. In the midst of trials we often want to bargain with God - if you do this I will do that - but our walk with God is a commitment not a bargain.

It's the same way Jesus asked Philip in John 6:5-6 "Where are we going to buy bread, that all these (5,000 men plus women and children) may eat? And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do."

Jesus was looking for something to come up out of Philip in this stressful situation - would Philip react from faith or from the natural? Would he see it as a trial or as an opportunity for growth and God to do a miracle?

Each season presents just such a decision for us to make.

I remember listening to a Rabbi years ago teach on Genesis 22 and Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Verse 1 says in the KJV, "God did tempt Abraham..." He brought out this word tempt was actually the other side of that coin, it was the word 'prove', which means the Lord knew Abraham's heart and therefore this instruction to offer Isaac would prove what was in his heart. Perhaps Abraham needed the faith in his heart to be manifest through action.

I've always found it fascinating that in Luke 22:31-32 when Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not, and when you are converted, you may strengthen your brothers", that he didn't say he prayed to stop the trial Peter was about to go through. In fact he noted Peter would need to be converted through the experience.

The transition Peter faced, his Lord being led away to the cross, caused Peter to deny even knowing Jesus. It was a transition for Jesus that was God's will in every way, for Jesus had to go to the cross, but that transition opened an opportunity for the devil to sift Peter like wheat. Jesus didn't rebuke the devil, he just prayed for Peter's strength as he went through the trail.

It's just like the 23rd Psalm; the Lord says he will walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death, he didn't say he would transport you out of the valley.

Jesus said he prayed that Peter's faith not fail, so I must believe that was answered, yet I would suggest that denying the Lord 3 times is dangerously close to a failure of faith.

It tells me Peter's fear of the situation was not a failure of faith, but merely fear because his world was turned upside down. I can relate to that. So often trials and seasons turn our world upside down and cause us fear.

I love the fact that in Mark 16:7 the resurrected Lord was apparently concerned about Peter, for the angels were instructed to say to the two Mary's who first saw the empty tomb: "But go your way, and tell the disciples, and Peter, that he goes before you into Galilee, and there you will see him..."

The transition Peter was a witness to, Jesus' death and resurrection, provided the opportunity for the devil, but it also meant growth for Peter as a man and as a disciple. And, that transition, that season, ended with the miracle of the resurrection.

So many of the seasons in the Bible ended with miracles - the children of Israel passed through the Jordan that dried up similar to their parent's crossing of the Red Sea; Abraham found a ram and the angel told him to sacrifice that instead; Jesus' time of temptation ended with him going into his ministry in the power of the Spirit and doing miracles; Jehoshaphat's time of defenselessness against the enemy ended with the miracle of the enemy turning on themselves, Paul's hanging in the Philippian jail ended with a miraculous release by an earthquake, and on it goes. 

But to attain the miracle at the end of each season or transition, the people had to go through some very difficult times. The season Abraham was in, included his young son becoming a man and working alongside his dad, gradually inheriting his father's possessions, only to be told instead that he must die as a sacrifice. The season the children of those who came out of Egypt were in, was that they were about to leave the wilderness and go into the promised land. Paul was beaten for his faith, but the resulting miracle was the start of the church in Philippi. The season Peter was in was the greatest transition of all, from the Old to the New Covenants.

Each of those transitions ended with a miracle, yet in the midst of the season provided the opportunity for growth in the Lord - it is clear each participant had a choice in the matter. Abraham could have refused. The children of Israel could have been like their parents 40 years earlier and refused to enter the Promised Land. Peter could have gone off and killed himself as he 'wept bitterly' after his denial of the Lord, Paul could have skipped Philippi, and even Jesus could have backed away in the decision making time in the Garden of Gethsemane.

If they'd given up part way through their season they would not have seen the miracle awaiting them.

There is a stream in Christianity that focuses on personal prophecy and I've seen many get all excited to "see what the Lord may say" to them. And it is right and proper that we take these words seriously. Paul said in I Corinthians 14:3 that they are words of edification, exhortation, and comfort.

Yet Paul would later say to Timothy that those words are the means by which we conduct our (personal) spiritual warfare. I Timothy 1:18: "This charge I commit to you...according to the prophecies that went before on you, that you by them might war a good warfare." The word 'charge' here is a military term that means the superior officer is giving a command to a junior officer - I order you, is how we would say it today. Paul was ordering Timothy to remember the words the Lord had spoken to him, and use them to war the good and proper warfare. That means it's important.

Notice...that by the prophecies you might war a good warfare. They are given for edification, exhortation, and comfort, yes, but they are also given that we might stand for what God wants in our lives, and in those we love and care about. But beyond that, these seasons are growth opportunities for us - the battle matures us if we let the Lord have his way.

I know it is quite popular to conduct spiritual warfare for God's will to be done, but in fact the examples in the Bible of proving and testing place more importance on individual development than it does praying down the heavens and casting down the enemy.

Abraham's test of offering Isaac was very personal. The children of those who came out of Egypt had a very personal test in entering into that which their fathers had backed away, Peter's denial of the Lord was a very personal and private failure. Jesus' temptation in the wilderness was private and needful that he might be proven pure and holy and return "in the power of the Spirit" to start his ministry.

In most Christian circles, 'standing on the Word' is touted, and that is very good. Ephesians 6:13 tells us that having done all to stand, stand.

But Peter would later say in II Peter 1: 4 of the promises in the Word of God: "Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these you may be partakers of the divine nature..."

From earth's perspective we see the promises as the answer to prayer. But from heaven, God sees them as an opportunity "that you may be partakers of the divine nature."

In other words, God sees the promises we stand on as an opportunity to work a maturing process in us - that while we stand we become partakers of God's nature - which is much greater in the big picture As Paul would say, "...our light affliction, which is for a moment, works in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (II Cor 4:17) 

We see the promises as something by which God will answer prayer - thus the balance between us standing and God challenging us to grow in Him while we stand - through faith and patience we inherit the promises. Presumably that faith and patience is working a growth process in us during that time.

Besides mentioning a 'time' for everything in Ecclesiastes 3, it also links that 'time' to 'purpose'. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Seasons have a start and stop to them, and in the midst thereof is purpose.

Will we cooperate with God and walk with him, to allow him to work his purpose in our lives? Or will we see the other side of the coin, that this season of testing is horrible, burdensome, and something to walk away from?

We must find the heavenly purpose in our lives in the midst of the current season - not the purpose for the trial or season we are in - but rather OUR purpose in the season - always a chance to become more Christ-like. Transitions happen regularly. In the midst of it all, we must find OUR purpose, OUR opportunity to draw closer to the Lord and to know him. We want to know the power of his resurrection, but Paul also said to know him "in the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil 3:10)

Is there something we can do to hasten the end of a season in our life? Sometimes.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 also says of each season: "He has made every (season) beautiful in his time..."

We must go through winter in it's entirety to see the beauty of spring. We must go through spring in it's entirety to see the fullness of summer.

Israel's initial march through the wilderness to the Promised Land took a couple months, that's all. But when they backed away from the new season and growth opportunity, they spent 40 years dying in the wilderness.

I believe that in many cases our obedience, our growth in Christ, will hasten an end to the season. If we don't grow in this area, we'll come around that mountain again. People with re-occurring offenses in their heart back away from growth opportunities, and therefore go through being offended again and again.

I see it all the time. In house church you see people who have been burned by the traditional church and so drop out, and we are there to help them grow out of those hurts. One is offended about leaders, so they back away when you talk about leadership. Another gets offended over the issue of money and giving, so they back away when that is mentioned. As with anyone in offense and unwilling to grow out of their hurt, they hear things twisted through the ears of their hurts - and each time they get offended is an opportunity to grow in Christ.

More often than not, they back away, become an island to themselves, floating here and there until someone else offends them. Stagnant and unhappy in their walk, and they feign ignorance as to why they are unhappy. But the truth is, God brings them to the edge of the wilderness, and they back away - just like those who came out of Egypt

Abraham's obedience brought the end to what was asked, and allowed the next season to come. Israel went quickly into the Promised Land after the death of Moses, drawing the wilderness season to a rapid end. I don't want to be like the ones who came out of Egypt, I want to come to the edge of my wilderness and continue on, marching boldly through a miracle into my own Promised Land!

You WILL get through this season. Find God's purpose of growth for yourself in the season, for that is a key to the beauty and fulfillment to that season.

 

Some thoughts today,
John Fenn
cwowi.org