Everything Is Beautiful In Its Season

Just two days ago, I would have hated that statement. 


Everything is beautiful?  Well clearly you don't know what I've gone through or what I'm currently going through.  This is not beautiful.  There is no way this could ever be considered beautiful.


And a season?  It feels more like eternity.  The time of beauty (if there ever was one) has quickly expired and I need a new season - like yesterday please...


Yesterday morning, I woke up to this verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for it is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

That was the first twinge of conviction I had felt in awhile about my attitude this past week or so. God's will for me is to rejoice and always give Him thanks.  Most importantly, it's to pray continually - just talk to my Father. It's His will for me because of Christ Jesus.

"Ok, ok - I'll stop focusing on the negative, just for today, and see what happens."

I'm sure it caused the Lord a bit of a chuckle when I ended up having the first TRUE good, joyful day in a while (you know, not just smiling and pretending it's fine). 

I had class last night and the first thing my professor said was, "From the most difficult passages, one reaps the greatest rewards." 

There was a moment there where I was a bit disappointed.  Clearly that meant that we were going to be going over a long, dull text.  I snapped out of that though because I had told the Lord I was going to focus on the positive - so YAY for finding the greatest rewards! :)

Greatest rewards did we find - especially for my soul.

In Nehemiah 8, we discussed what the old testament worship service was like.  I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say you shouldn't complain about an hour long sermon.  Ever.  They read from the word for 6 hours without mention of breaking out into really awesome worship songs with the biggest band and cool lights and effects...

It was in verse 10 where my heart found renewed strength.

"...and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

The believers felt incredible conviction and grief over the words from the Pentateuch that Ezra was reading.  They felt the full weight of their sin, and they grieved. Grieving over sin and what it does to the Lord is good and right.

But weeping over our sin is not the final message that God has for us.

Christian, your final message lies at the top of Gethsemane.  It hangs on a wooden cross, and it's covered in the blood of a perfect, spotless sacrificial lamb.  Our message ends with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our strength is found in the Lord.  It's found in the JOY of the Lord.  In Hebrew, the word joy here means a deep seeded belief, trust, and reliance.  It means that our total trust in the gospel is what gives us strength!

Strength to get through those really, really hard weekends.  Strength to get through rough work environments.  Strength to get through family drama.  Strength to pursue your call in life despite the circumstances.  Strength to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances.  Because it is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.

Brothers and Sisters, I pray that you see that your story doesn't end right now.  It doesn't end in this moment of grief and hard circumstances.  No matter what season that is, this is not the end.  Our story ends when we are reunited with Christ, perfect, holy and spotless.  Loved more than we could ever comprehend.  Until we get there, we rely on the joy of the Lord to sustain us until He returns and calls us home.

"Everything is beautiful in its season: as we must not be merry when God calls to mourning, we must not frighten and afflict ourselves when God gives us occasion to rejoice.  Even sorrow for sin must not grow so excessive as to hinder our joy in God and our cheerfulness in his service."

Matthew Henry