If you came for a visit today and walked out to my apple and pear trees hoping to eat fruit, you would be disappointed. You might tell me, “I wanted an apple or a pear, but your trees are dead”. Yet, if you had walked a bit further to the garden, you could find collards and cabbage. The fruitful trees aren’t dead; they are fruitless because it’s the wrong season. The Lord established seasons on the fourth day of creation. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years“ (Gen 1:14). You find seasons mentioned from Genesis to Revelation. Not all refer to environment seasons; many apply to our physical and spiritual lives having various seasons. We can separate human life into the four seasons of spring (childhood), summer (young adults), fall (adults), and winter (seniors). Within each season, other kinds of seasons take place—e.g. conception to birth. Solomon says there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven (Ecc 3:1-8 NIV) and listed 28 seasons.
Lots of people take the seasons for granted, especially the ones concerning their physical and spiritual life. Without awareness of our season, we may fail to realize the kind of fruit we should be producing. Seasons are such an integral part of God’s creation from beginning to the end, understanding is vital because they are a natural and on going part of life. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease” (Gen 8:22). The first lesson we should learn, which is common to all, seasons are about change. Each brings a change in our biological, psychological, social, and spiritual characteristics. The fruit we enjoy and produce in each period may be different just as in nature. I can’t eat an apple off my tree but can cook a pot of collards or cabbage. A second lesson is seasons are normal and we should never feel ashamed, discouraged, or guilty because we have changed and don’t produce the same fruit we use to. We may no longer enjoy the same social or recreational activities. I’ve accepted that I have transitioned into my winter season. I can’t hop on an airplane, fly all over the world, and bounce around on rough roads for days producing fruits from teaching people in remote locations. I’ve had to accept the new fruit I can produce takes place sitting here at my computer, writing, and teaching people in limitless locations.
Difficulties arise when people refuse to accept a new season in their life. One of the most obvious is what we term ‘mid-life crisis’—some individuals are worse than others. Entering the winter season becomes an even greater problem for many. Note celebrities who turn 70, but do everything possible to look 40 again. Issues can develop as Christians, especially ministers, enter their senior years. God didn’t design this to be a season to retire from doing God’s work—sit on the lake, fish, and attend church on Sunday. In Dr. Robert Clinton’s classic 1988 book, The Making of a Leader, he demonstrated that the prior seasons were times in which the Lord was preparing us for our ultimate ministry.
Caution should be observed as we enter any new season. Teenagers may race into adulthood over confident about new challenges—e.g. get multiple credit cards and max them out. One example I have personally observed is seniors allowing pride to consume them. “You can’t tell me anything I don’t know. I’ve been serving God all my life—longer than you’ve been alive!” Others fail because they feel they can coast through this time of life. We never stop serving and growing in Christ until our last day on earth.
This began as a study of seasons when we have a crop failure. Every believer can encounter a period when they experience a total crop failure and bear no fruit. Satan will use this and plant in your mind you failed and should quit. We live in peach country and every few years a late freeze destroys the buds so no fruit from the peach trees that year. The farmers don’t abandon their orchards. They prepare for the next season. God never abandons us if our fruit fails. He helps us prepare for the next harvest. Mark didn’t bear much fruit as a young missionary with Paul and Barnabas. About to begin their second journey, Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work (Acts 15:38). Paul abandoned him, but God had another fruit for him to bear—writing the Gospel of Mark. Later Paul wrote, Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry (2 Tim 4:11). Never quit even if you have a crop failure.
Have you been experiencing a difficult time? A third lesson, seasons don’t last, a new season will come. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth (Isa 43:19). Don’t fear entering your next season. Each one is unique and brings new dimensions of life. Embrace your next season by letting go of the old. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:13 NLT)
Sustaining Word for the Week: “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind” (C.S. Lewis).