Genesis 8:22 says that “as long as the earth ensures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Where I live, it’s usually extremely hot and muggy in August. And I hate it. Mid 90s with 95% humidity is not my cup of tea. My ideal day is 70 and sunshiny or cloudy with tons of snow. I know. I’m nuts. I find myself extremely moody and ungrateful every August and September because all I want is fall and winter to relieve me of the suffocating heat. It drags me down and makes me tired. Usually, I’ve been working in my garden since April, and I’m also tired of working it. Did I mention bugs? How long do they really need to stick around? I crave winter, so I don’t have to deal with ticks and mosquitos and houseflies. Can anyone relate?
Something happens every August, though. Often I find an early pumpkin in my garden. Or a cold front moves in and takes the humidity away for a few days. When those things happen, God whispers Genesis 8:22 directly into my grumpy soul: God keeps His promises. God makes many promises to us in His Word, and sometimes it leaves me speechless when I find them embedded into my everyday life. With the subtle changes in weather or brief relief, I am reminded that God's plans have cycles and rhythms. His promises stand firm because the earth is still firm.
Not only do I find peace and relief that all the things I hate about summer will end, but I am also reminded that He places seasons and cycles in our spiritual lives.
I can go to bed and wake up to a new opportunity to grow and correct my sin because He promises the earth is still spinning.
I need to take a spiritual winter to quiet my soul and listen to Him. To rest in Him. I need to recognize it won’t always be restful and quiet and that sometimes I will be experiencing exponential growth like spring. Spiritual summers are long and hard and full of work so that we can participate in a plentiful harvest for God's kingdom. God isn’t going to leave me and isn’t absent when I don’t feel Him. He isn’t ignoring me when I don’t receive a mind-blowing lesson when I read His Word. God isn’t giving me too much work at one time. God is the same in all seasons. We will experience all seasons at some point in our life. They won’t end until He comes back one day. In Revelation 21-22, we read that there will be no more earth or need of the sun, and there will be a tree that provides food all the time. We will be with Him forever WITHOUT the unpleasant physical and spiritual discomforts. Can I get an amen?
Just as I need four seasons to give me a break from physical discomforts, the Lord gives our spiritual lives four seasons as well. We receive changes and breaks from spiritual discomfort too. We just have to wait it out and depend on God during those times, just like crummy weather. Where are you right now? Allow the changing of seasons to remind you that the Lord keeps His promises. Ask Him to guide you through whatever season you’re going through right now. Ask Him to whisper the comfort of His promises during the changing seasons.
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