Yesterday marked the beginning of summer. Judging by the warm temperatures and periods of higher humidity we have already experienced, many of us would have assumed that summer had begun several weeks ago.
God has so ordained that He has given us different seasons in life in terms of weather. Elihu reminds us in Job 37:9-12 how God controls every aspect of the weather we experience: the whirlwind, cold, ice, moisture; clouds, lightning—and how they each “turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.”
There are also different seasons in life in terms of different things God is doing in our lives, where we experience new opportunities and previous opportunities close. Sometimes these changes are our own doings; other times God is the One who is opening and closing doors. The Book of Proverbs tells us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (16:9).
The challenge for each of us is to learn to trust God in all of life, including changing circumstances. Sometimes these changes are the result of the fact that we are broken people living with other broken people in a broken world. Sometimes we understand the cause of these changes; more often we don’t. Many times, we discover new lessons in faith, even as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Ultimately changes come about through the providence of God. Question and answer 27 of the Heidelberg Catechism defines the providence of God as “The almighty and everywhere-present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth, with all creatures, and so governs them, that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things, come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.”
The following question and answer help us understand our proper response to God’s providential dealings in our lives: “That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and for what is future, have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.” (Traditional Language Version 2014 Edition).
May each of us find fresh joy in the Lord in each new season of life, including the great and final season that will last for all eternity.