A New Season
Read:
Romans 9:20 “Who are you – anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Or has the potter no right over His clay . . .”
Listen: I started a new season of life. Let’s begin with that statement because it’s important. Too often my desire to please others leads me to not look inward to see what God is calling me to do and instead staying in a season which is not only experiencing no growth, but is also depleting me of resources. Growing up in Kentucky, the beauty of each season should be apparent in life. There is summer where things are growing and flourishing, doing what they are supposed to be doing. They are green with new-found experiences then grow to be productive and beautiful. Summers can also boast some pretty good storms but strength is gained through growth. Moving into the fall, which is absolutely one of my favorite seasons, there is a time to exist in beauty, to relax and enjoy the winds that shake off the old to prepare for the new. There is the time to look back on the growth from the summer, reflect on the storms, and realize you made it! Winter comes and ushers in a time of rest. Thank God for rest because He is preparing for the spring which is going to take a lot of energy. Spring arrives. Beautiful baby shoots pop up and it’s a season of waking up or beginning again, with all of the resources to nourish. It’s a time of remaking and seeing the splendor of becoming. I’ve been in summer for a while now and this isn’t to say that I haven’t enjoyed watching my growth and seeing the fruits of my labor. There were actually many years of joy and celebrating but my vines began to dry up. Why you might ask? I still felt like I was serving the Lord and trying to do things for Him. But, I never allowed fall to arrive so did minimal reflecting. Never embraced a time of rest so grew tired- dog tired and I crashed. Not just an emotional crash but a crash where my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health plummeted. Fatigue can’t even describe it. It was an emptiness, a hollowness – not despair – just nothing. It was being tired and not even thinking about producing fruit.
Understand: Colossians 1:9-10 says “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.”
Let me point out a couple things about this verse.
- This is a prayer for spiritual growth. In order to have spiritual growth, we need to be filled with what? the knowledge of His will.
- Why do we want spiritual growth? so [we] may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him
- What else are we supposed to do? [bear] fruit in every good work and [grow] in the knowledge of God
We are supposed to live our lives in a way that pleases the Lord. This isn’t just about what we do. It’s also about the condition of our hearts as we do it. I was serving in my current career and, I hope, furthering the Kingdom of God. But I was burnt out. Burnt out because there was never a season of fall, no reflection and certainly no winter season of rest. Some might call it the ‘rat race.’ Going and going and going. Working and working and working but to what end? One of my biggest problems was I was deceived into thinking that my work was truly glorifying God. I do believe He was pleased with my persistence. I do believe that I wanted to do my best – but was it for Him or was it based more on selfish ambition? See, somewhere along the way, I found that ladder. You know the one that so many say we are supposed to climb in order to be successful? And, just like culture expected, I began to climb it. Somewhere along the way I realized how tired I was, I looked down only to realize how impossible it seemed to be to jump off. Perhaps it was too high? It just seemed easier to hang on, live in fear of taking a leap off, and begin to grow more tired, more bitter, more unsure of myself. If you’ve ever hung out in fear for a bit, you’ve experienced its crippling effect on every part of your life. Not only was I tired though, my fruit was squooshed and had long since fallen away from me on my climb. It took me years and many crashes before I realized: If I jump off this ladder, God will catch me and not only will He catch me, He will give me rest, then stand me on two feet and walk me into a new beginning. Take a minute to visualize this. My vision went something like this, dropping to my knees before His throne and asking forgiveness then my Savior and God allowing me to grab a good book and hide behind Their throne away from everyone. Pure rest. Pure peace. Pure stillness so the only thing I had to focus on was being safely tucked away behind the throne and Their robes where nothing could get to me: no expectations, no fear, no nothing. Just protective rest. Healing.
That’s where I am today. God has been pulling me into the next season and so let it begin! This is what I want to share. I want to pull from my lessons to teach myself how to not “talk back to God.” He has made me a particular way and it’s beautiful. I just want to explore THE Maker’s Way. He is the Potter and I am the clay. Look around. What He makes is beautiful and has a purpose that is pleasing to Him. I want to “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” because it is then that I will really be able to grow and serve.
Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, help us to see that You are always there to catch us when we need to step away from things. Help us to not be fearful, remembering you did not give us a spirit of fear. We can cry out to You and You will help us. Give us strength to embrace Your way. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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