“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). 

This is one of my favorite verses. Maybe it’s yours. And for good reason, for sure. Because a brand-new season is here. I’ve seen it. Just a few short weeks ago, our Maple Tree had one rowdy red leaf. Now, our tree’s entire head is red. And doesn’t it seem like new seasons fall on us gradually…but all at once? One day we just simply notice it, I guess. 

There you are, we say. 

Green turns to orange, summer’s heat turns down, and suddenly, sweater weather is here! Or if you live in Texas like my friend, Rachel Ridge, you are existing in what she calls “fake Fall.” Sweatshirts are out (in the evening), and there is the pretense that cold will come….someday. But maybe not this exact sweaty day, that’s all. 

Back in Ohio, though, our yards look like crayon boxes. The horizon is red, and our leaf blowers are back in business. Fake-Fall or not, inside prodding tells us all to wait and watch. Something is in the air. We can be sure, a new season will soon arrive. 

It has occurred to me that I don’t always trust Spring to arrive soon enough. Nor do I naturally watch for something good to come my way. Like, when my kids were little, you could not even get me to drink after them. My eyes would just zero in on all the goodies their precious sips left behind. I mean, what Mama doesn’t watch for floaters in her cup? My glass wasn’t half-empty, but half-full of yuck as far as my eye could see.

There is a Season of Sorrow

I am learning (and relearning) to watch for God’s good in every season. That His goodness also shines in a soul-winter and not just in a sun-slain day. But we must train our hearts to see in the dark. Over and over Scripture points to the goodness of God, and the best way to see God’s good in this season is to learn from Job, I think. His misery and triumph remind us: we have legitimate reasons to expect joy today. 

Most of us are familiar with Job’s story already. Job’s conversation with God exemplifies how little he understood of the big picture. Just how little we understand of the big God we serve. Even so, God was good, and Job’s time of ruin turned to into restoration. Just as well-known, though, is Job’s wife’s response to his suffering. Job’s wife sees no end to the pain, so she has an idea (albeit, a drastic one). She asks Job, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” I truly believe her eyes, her very heart, could no longer bear the suffering of it all. So often our natural response is to try and put a stop to the pain. To try and fix it. And I kinda, sorta, perhaps get this. I do. Who can say they’ve never felt seized in a season, stuck in sorrow. Or have never lashed out in pain? 

Standing Steadfast

I’ll admit, Jerry and I have had some heavy discussions (and disagreements) smack dab in the middle of dark mornings and empty nights. We’ve blamed, overreacted, concluded. We’ve even tried to wiggle away from pain, but it follows you like winter follows fall. It’s not supposed to be like this, we say look at each other sometimes. Aren’t we on the other side of this yet? Haven’t we learned through a season like this already? New seasons don’t always collaborate with our calendar, though. We try and flip the page. We can’t. 

We’ve had to learn to stay steadfast in suffering, trusting God’s promises to clear the way for the good thing working its way through the hard thing. I know. We are able press our nose against the window and watch, because God has promised that after the sorrow, spring will come. 

How do we know? 

Because all of God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen.” 

Paul held the assurance that, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). In Jesus, all of God’s capacities are complete. We are called to believe this…completely. Believe that God is willing to meet our every need, heal our every pain, and forgive our every sin. Our God is willing, and this is His, YES. (Which is a little like us taking a drink from His holy cup and returning it to Him with yuck in it, maybe. And then…He drinks it! And last week, my grand handed me his milk to finish along with his already chewed bread, forcing it to my face with his happy, chubby fingers.)

Thank you, but NO thank you, I said. Then I remembered this: God said yes to our yuck. (FYI: I still said no way!) 

In Every Season, God is the Same

I am so amazed. Because this is what I think about now when I read Job’s reply to his wife. “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2: 10). Job received God’s yes in season and surrendered to God’s Amen—even in pain. Basically, we can trust the process and grow or remain foolish in our thinking. A new time will come, eventually. There is new life in God’s perfect and final will. And it helps me to remember that the word Amen means “it is and shall be so.” Or “it is complete.” Sometimes a new season doesn’t show up when we think it should. But with God’s Amen, we can be sure He will finish the good work He has started. In time. 

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). In a world where time doesn’t stop—I love that we get to enjoy the permanence of hope in this verse. Accepting this life is flawed and cannot be fixed, is faith. To trust God for wholeness on the other side of helpless, is joy. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall…we can shine. 

And I looked out the window today to see another leaf let go, while others continue to hold on. But I’m praying and excited to hear about where you are in time and “every matter under heaven.” In fact, my nose is sticking to the window right now, waiting, watching for God’s good in this season with you. 

There you are, we’ll say in our sweaters and sweatshirts. There. You. Are. 

Meet Beth…