Encouragement for all Seasons
This mornings devotional on In touch was too good not to pass on and then add a little personal insight.
Deuteronomy 7:7-9 New Living Translation (NLT)
7 “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 9 Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.
Spring, summer, fall, and winter—these are the seasons of the year. Life also has its seasons. Some are filled with joy, while others are characterized by difficulty. Take comfort because there is a principle from the Bible that can encourage and sustain you through every season: Our God is faithful.
We learn about this attribute of the Lord from passages like 1 Corinthians 1:9, where Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” To say that God is faithful means He always does exactly what He says He will do.
How reassuring it is to know that He will keep His promises to His children and never leave their side, whatever “season” of life they are in. No matter how deep, how dark, how depressing, how hopeless, or how good things may seem, the child of God can count on the Father’s abiding presence.
So regardless of your present trials or triumphs, embrace these three truths:
1. God will be faithful to you because it is His very nature (Ps. 36:5).
2. God knows all about your situation; you are never alone in any season of life (Ps. 139:7-12).
3. God is omnipotent, so He has the power to meet every single need, and He knows how to move you through the various seasons of your life (Rom. 8:28).
Hold onto this fact: You will change and seasons will change, but our wonderful God is always the same. That means He won’t fail you, He won’t waver on you, and He won’t vary—you can fully rely on Him. And He will never forget about you; He is with you always. Great is His faithfulness!
I have been the benefactor of many incredible acts of the faithfulness of God. Let share several important ones to me.
In High School and College I had several girl friends, I was young, so you can count that against my judgment, but I was sure each one was the “one”!! Needless to say by time I graduated and returned to my home town, Harlan, I was girl friendless… To be honest, I was very lonely, and I was questioning why my God was leaving me alone in the world. The answer to my prayers was not immediate. Then one night while visiting my father in the hospital, I mete a pretty young nurse! One date later, I had found the love of my life. 44 years later, I can see what god was saving me for! Not a day has gone by that I haven thanked Him for this my greatest earthly gift!
One of the great loves of my life has been football. I played in High School and had a chance to play in college, but frankly I was just not big enough or fast enough to play major college ball. I coached high school ball and really enjoyed it but, it was obvious tome that my future was not going to be as a player or along term as a coach. During my time coaching I picked up a 35mm camera ands started dabbling in photography, something I had always had an interest in. God opened doors that led to my life time passion with and involvement in photography. With the exception of my Lord, my wife and family, and friends, photography has become the joy of my life.
Twice I’ve faced cancer and in both cases, great medical folks and my Lord have seen me through both! He not only helped me to recover, he taught me life lessons of incompressible value through both experiences.
Some might say that these are all coincidences. Believe what you wish, but I know what I believe, my God has been faithful in every aspect of my life, both large and small!
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2013 at 12:08 pm
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Always a joy to read your devotionals. I enjoyed hearing you speak at PSW Orlando and hope to soon join you in one of your His Light Workshops.
Thank you, hope so too!
I agree. That leads to a kind of fatalism, when stioemmes we’re supposed to keep knocking, look for a window, or even break down the closed doors. It can also be an excuse. Gravity, entropy, ongoing unseen opposition sigh. I’m beginnning to see that once I accept the fact that resistance is something I’ll wake up to, and go to sleep to, every day in the spiritual as well as the natural, it helps me to approach life more wisely, creatively and hopefully more proactively. What about you?
Thanks for posting this, Bill. Amazing how God puts things in front of me when I need them!
Hello, I check your blog on a regular basis. Your story-telling style is witty, keep
doing what you’re doing!
This is really uplfiting *sigh* I dont like that I have this problem and I try to keep things in perspective because I know the world doesn’t revovle around myself but at times I just get the feeling that everyone is looking at me and judging me for my every mistake, it makes it hard to even interact with people without being even in the least anxious. This is uplfiting though and I will def turn my problems to the Lord because at this point he is the only one that can help me. Thanks for the post and your helping people like us by just talking about your situations and giving us all courage.