*Inspired by Isaiah 28:23-29
Seasons. One day we might be on a high, everything seems to be going great in life. Physically you are feeling good, emotionally you are stable and feeling better than ever, spiritually there’s a fire burning and you are just ready to punch Satan in the face because you can hear God speaking, moving, and guiding you every minute of every day. You are in the word consistently and getting so much out of it. Your prayer life is thriving, you are seeing answers, finding clarity, and loving God all the more every single day. Other times, you are just struggling. You feel out of sync with God, you don't feel like you can hear Him. You ask, seek, knock, but you just feel like you are in the desert. It may be brought on by a physical event, emotions, sin, or just what seems to be for no good reason at all. You feel like you’re a hamster running on a wheel, running aimlessly without a goal. You are struggling to get into and be inspired by God's word, and you feel like prayers are being left unanswered.
I know I’ve been in both places. Frequently. More often than I always like to admit.
Seasons can be tough. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if everything was going great all the time?
Probably.
But sometimes I forget that the most significant growth can happen in times when feeling like I am sitting in the desert, feeling dried up, exhausted, at the bottom of the barrel, on the last straw.
I was reading Isaiah 28:23-29, and I found such beauty in this passage. There are seasons when you just feel like you are not thriving. You are sitting smack dab in the middle of the desert, crying for help, and feeling like there’s no answers. You feel like God is just sending waves through everything you thought you had in order and you’re sitting in the midst of the pieces wondering, “what on earth will He do with this?” Have you been there? I have. But there is so much beauty in these moments. And there's so much beauty in the work He is doing.
24-26 “Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.”
Wowza. This portion is describing that yes, a farmer does work the ground, he does mix everything up, break it all to pieces. But when he’s done with that, the farmer PLANTS. He doesn’t just keep working the ground. He PLANTS. He doesn’t just keep grinding it all up to pieces. He PLANTS. And he would not plant anything without the expectation of GROWTH.
Sometimes, I feel like my life is in pieces (again, more often than I would always like to admit...). We live in a broken and fallen world where sin is in abundance – there’s a huge chance that you’ve experienced it before and you will experience it again. However, the beauty here is that God plants with the expectation of GROWTH. Verse 29 says “All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.” God is so, so GOOD. He orchestrates EVERY SINGLE SEASON in life for the good of His people, for His greater plan. He has so much more wisdom than any human could ever fathom. He uses these seasons for GROWTH, whether you are experiencing a high or a low.
So, where do we go from here? We learn to find JOY in various trials (James 1:2-4), because trials are there for a reason. We learn to TRUST in the Lord God, because He has always and will always orchestrate life’s ups and downs for the good of His kingdom and for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). And we can find comfort in the fact that the seasons are not for nothing - we can find peace in anticipation of GROWTH.
Today, I pray that I can hold onto both truth and joy amidst every single season.
***
Scripture References:
*Isaiah 28: 23-29
23 Listen and hear my voice;
Pay attention and hear what I say
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
Does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him
And teaches him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
Nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
Caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
So one does not go on threshing it forever
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
But one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
Whose plan is wonderful
Whose wisdom is magnificent
*James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
*Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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