A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven…

I want to start this blog with a question.  Do you like change?  

We all settled into a certain routine in our lives – work, home, church, some recreational activity.  We get up for work at the same time everyday, we eat at the same time everyday, we attend the same church service and even sit in the same seat every week.  You get the picture.  For most, life is pretty unremarkable. 

That said, I confess that sometimes that unremarkable life can get very comfortable.  So when change does come how do we feel about it?  I guess it matters if it’s a good change or a bad change doesn’t it? Is it a loss of a job or a promotion?  Have you experienced the death of a loved one or was a baby born into your household?

Ecclesiastes 3 describes the many different seasons of life and one thing is certain– change is inevitable.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Over the past few years, my husband and I have been through a few of the seasons mentioned above…we were uprooted, torn down,  in mourning, searching, weeping, healing… and God, in all of these difficult times, was in the process of refining our character and building up our faith and trust in Him and Him alone.  These times were not pleasant and it was very hard to see our way out of each place we were in, but the lessons we learned during these times are invaluable.

Yes… seasons change.  God uses change to shape us like a potter shapes a piece of clay on his wheel.  Look how change effects a caterpillar.  From a little insect that crawls around eating leaves to a cocoon where an astounding change takes place.  God in His amazing way causes a beautiful butterfly to emerge after  a certain amount of time passes.  

Change maybe the only way He can open our eyes to His presence and refocus our lives so that we are looking to Him and not to anyone else.  Scriptures says there is a time for every purpose under heaven.  The word purpose means “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.”  Doesn’t that give you hope?  It makes me see that life isn’t a random series of events, but one that has been planned out with a specific purpose in mind.  There is a goal to be reached, one that can only be achieved through seasons of change.

Now what I am going to say may be hard to hear and even harder to do… I struggled with it but I am learning to do this and I know you can too.  It’s time to…

Embrace the change. 

Learn to accept these seasons of change, as difficult as they may be. Know that God uses change for His glory.  

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says,

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

Did you catch that… I love this promise…He makes everything beautiful in its time…like that butterfly… The passages goes on to say…”they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.”  I find that so interesting too.  The changes have a specific beginning and end. While we are in the midst of a season, all we see is the difficulty or circumstance…so we can’t possible know what God is doing…how He is working behind the scenes.  While we don’t know how long each season will last, at its end God promises He will make it beautiful. 

So, what kind of year will this be for you?  What seasons will come and go in your life?  We can’t know the answers to those question can we?  So maybe the question we should be asking is what kind of person will I be this year?  Will I be prepared to embrace the changes that will come and learn from all that God brings, or will my unwillingness be my undoing?  We may not be able to control the circumstances, but we can control our responses. 

Blessings,