Seasons

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven
Ecc 3:1

Fall is probably my favorite time of year. I love the change of the colors, the feel of the brisk air in the morning. This year, fall has been a bit different than most. We have had an unusually warm and dry September and October. Where usually the fall rains and cold mornings make for a beautiful fall foliage, this year there is very little color. The lack of rain here is causing the trees to just drop their leaves.

Growing up in the northern part of the state, I remember seeing crops harvested in the fall. The combines would raise huge clouds of dust bringing in the corn and soybeans. Fall is always associated with the harvest and plenty, but this year I noticed something else. I was driving through the eastern part of the state this past weekend where there are a decent number of fields. I saw something that no farmer ever wants to have happen. Several fields of soybeans were left in the fields to rot.

The crop was plentiful enough to be harvested. Even though it was dry this fall, summer had plenty of rain. It wasn’t laziness on behalf of the farmer either. The reason that they had left it in the field was that the bottom had fallen out of the market. Global supply chains shifted, which caused the primary buyer for the crop to go elsewhere, causing supply to be really high, with nobody to use it. The result—it costs more to take it out of the field than it would to just till it under later. Things like this don’t happen all the time. It is rather rare that events like this occur. But when it does happen, it can seem like it is the end for those that are affected the most.

There is a passage from the book of Philippians that is probably the most well-known (and
abused) passage of Scripture in the Bible. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

What is not quoted is the verse that comes right before that. “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 4:12” Paul was reminding the church at Philippi that bad times can and will happen. However, the bad times don’t last forever. The bad times are only a season.

As I was looking out over those fields I began to take stock of my own life. I, like all men, have had their fair share of good times and bad times. Seeing those fields brought up memories of times in my life when all my efforts to accomplish different objectives were destroyed. The bad things happened not because I didn’t try. It happened despite my efforts. It was also in those times when my relationship with God grew the most. Many times, I have thought back to those times of being “brought low.” At the time I hated it, but now I wouldn’t change them for the world.

I noticed something else as I was driving through those fields the other day. All the corn fields were already harvested and sent to market. Those that had a different crop weren’t facing the same hardship as those who planted the soy. It served as that reminder that there is always an upside to no matter what circumstance. The lesson I have had to learn is to make time to find it.

Solomon, after saying there is a season for everything, said something else.

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. Ecc 3:14

It is the works of God that endure forever, not the work of my own hands. I have come to realize that those times of being “brought low” were for my own good. It happened that I might learn the fear of God.

There is a battle that every Christian will face constantly on this side of eternity. That is the
battle of keeping the faith. The best way I ever heard the word faith defined was this: believing loyalty. God allows that faith to be tested to produce something in us. That something is endurance. Faith that is never tried is not faith at all. It is our job to take our eyes off of the immediate circumstances and to rest inside of the eternal work of God.

Trials in our lives are never forever. They are only there for a season. Just like the farmer who
had to abandon his crop, we should not think of ourselves as failures when we did all we could. Rather, we should take those times to refocus off of our own agenda and onto the agenda of God. It doesn’t mean that we stop our work; it means we keep going. We rest in the fact that God permitted this season, and that this season is temporary.

Next year that farmer will do as all farmers since Adam and Eve have been doing. He will till the land, plant his seed, and wait for the harvest. After all, it was just a single season that didn’t turn out, and there are plenty more seasons of abundance in the future. We should do the same.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4