Finding Next

What is a Season?

              A season is a discernible period of time along the path of our life’s destiny in which actions must be taken—or refrained from— in order to keep us in line and on track with God’s divine plan and timetable for our lives.  I believe what makes seasons divine is being in tune with the specific guidance, direction, and plan of action that God gives in a specific period in our lives.

              One of the major themes of this book is that just as natural seasons differ, the seasons of our lives also differ, and to have success in any given season you have to perform season-appropriate, season-specific actions. Consider the following example from Richard Blackaby:

Scripture indicates: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1). Have you ever considered the fact that, just as in nature, God created your life to flow through seasons? And, just like a farmer, if you don’t recognize what season you are in and act accordingly, you are never going to experience the abundant life that was available to you? I experienced this truth last spring. I live in South Carolina. The previous summer heat had scorched a portion of my lawn. So, novice horticulturalist that I am, I lay down some topsoil and grass seed and voila! a week or two later, tender blades of grass were shooting up. Buoyed by my success, I decided to try my hand again, several weeks later on patches I had missed earlier. This time, however, I had no luck. I put out more soil and abundant grass seed. Still nothing. I added fertilizer. It seemed I had suddenly lost my touch. I finally talked with a local expert who informed me that spring was over. Summer had come. The temperatures were too hot now for grass seed to germinate. I was unsuccessfully attempting to do spring activity in summer.                       (Blackaby, 2012)

              Just as the natural seasons have a schedule set in motion by God, so do the seasons of our lives, but they differ from the natural seasons in that they are not easy to discern. God sets in motion the seasons of our lives. Without a connection to God through the Holy Spirit, we won’t be able to correctly identify the season we are in. This may result in us planting during a season that is not conducive to growth, or hibernating in a season when we should be actively planting.

Reference.com says that almanacs “are used for several purposes, such as predicting astronomical events, supplying historic climate information, forecasting weather patterns and making planting recommendations for farmers. Almanacs provide information based on historical events and present conditions. They contain factual information such as times of sunrise and sunset as well as trivia and folklore.” (livescience.com, n.d.)

The website, however, says further: “Almanacs use climate history as part of their prediction efforts, and this is something which anyone could do. But the weather has shown itself to be a very unstable beast. Almanacs may work in some instances, but they will never be a reliable prediction platform and must be treated as such.” (livescience.com, n.d.)

              Many people make life decisions based on past experiences, on observing the patterns of others, and even on astrological events, horoscopes. These types of things will never be an accurate prediction of an upcoming season in your life as you are pursuing the fulfillment of divine destiny.

Acts 17:26-28 (KJV) And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

              Acts Chapter 17 makes it clear that God has plans for where we should live and how we should fulfill His purpose. We can find those plans if we seek God. Romans 8:14 (NKJV) says that one of the marks of sonship was the willingness to submit to the leading of God through the Holy Spirit.  It says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

              God has designed it such that our ultimate success in knowing what season we are in can only be achieved by seeking Him.