What The Season Permits
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
Waiting is not a popular thing. I was always so impatient, I never wanted to wait for anything. I remember one year when I was a kid I decided to snoop for Christmas presents. When I uncovered the cache, I found out what I was getting. The thing is, the timing was off as Christmas was still weeks away. When I finally got to open my presents, the excitement was spoiled. I never snooped or cared to know ahead of time ever again.
Isn’t fruit the same? We are blessed in the region we live to have a climate suited for some types of grapes. These are grapes usually used for juice or wine and as such the sugar content has to get to the right place before they’re harvested. The longer these grapes stay on the vine, the sweeter they get. If you happen across a vineyard in August, you will find grapes that look ripe and delicious but if you pop one in your mouth, you will be unpleasantly surprised. You will spit it out because the time is not right. Without waiting the grapes just aren’t ready. On the other hand, I’ve come across straggler vines that no one has picked and eaten grapes in November. Man how good they taste!
We have an interesting climate here because of the Great Lakes. Just a few miles away, the seasons are just different enough that the growing season is different. You know why grapes grow in this region? It is because the season permits it. So goes our life.
We may want things now but God knows the right time and place. We may want something to happen or to change but God knows when we are ready. So many people are chasing the next thing that they fail to seek the Lord and see what is for them now. They don’t wait on Him, but try and make it happen their way and in their time. So often, because they are out of order, these things become bitter in their mouth.
God wants good things for us all but He wants them in the right time, at the peak of perfection. Jeremiah 29:11 (God’s blessed plan for us) can be sure to us, but to get there we need to understand John 16:13, that His Spirit will lead us only if we follow. As a farmer waits for the fruit to ripen, so must we wait for God to ripen us. Proverbs 10:22 tells us, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” God won’t give us what will hurt us.
If you are seeking God, endeavoring to follow Him, you have to learn something very important. Relax! In God’s timing, if you seek and follow Him, if you do what you know to do and wait for the next instruction, you will realize all He has for you. God wants you to get where you’re going more than you do. He also knows the best way to get there. Follow Him by following His Spirit and let the peace of God hold you until you get there. Then it will be sweet and satisfying, blessing you and those around you.
Galatians 6:9: And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff
