Seasons Change

I've heard it preached that "You're either in the midst of a valley, you're just coming out of a valley or you're about to go into one." Well, I don't know about you but my tendency at this point is to cover my ears - loudly scream "la la la la la" - and do everything within my own power to protect the beauty that is seen from my rose colored glasses!

And yet, as we soon learn, the truth is we have no power to control our time in the valleys. A valley, which is never easy, comes whether or not we want it to and whether or not we're ready for it. There are times when you can see it as you approach its rim. You tote along with you your shortcomings that can be used by the enemy to ease you down into this valley. A cord of pain that has bitterness, anger and unforgiveness woven within it. You even remember the struggles of friends who have been there before you and yet you, in and of yourself, are powerless to overcome the descent.

Your time in the valley is a season - it's a 'Saturday Season'. You've experienced a Friday . . . a loss. Maybe it was the loss of a loved one, or a marriage, your health, your purpose or even your innocence. Your 'Saturday Season' in the valley is time spent reacting to that loss. Faced with a dry heart you have memories, good and bad, that haunt you. Your desire to isolate yourself from every good thing brings with it a loneliness that overwhelms you. You are powerless to overcome a despair that has a close kinship to depression.

BUT, for the children of God, mercy and grace abound for they know that SUNDAY IS ON THE HORIZON! Just as the Father, GOD ALMIGHTY, displayed His great power and love in bringing Christ back from His Saturday Season in the pit of Hell, He too willingly moves us out of our valley, our pit of Hell, into a glorious 'Sunday Season'.

Often I remember the story told in Matthew 8:1-4 in which a man who lived in the Valley of Lepers longed to venture out of his Saturday Season so kneeling before Christ he spoke from the depths of his heart saying "If You are willing, You can make me clean." And, of course, with abundant mercy, Christ eagerly reached down into the Leper's valley and pulling him up out said to him, "I am willing. Be clean." And as it is written "Immediately" the dawn of Sunday morning overtook the darkness of the Saturday Season. HALLELUJAH - Can you hear this man's voice shake with joy as he shouts his undying praise of God's goodness and grace?

We are no different than the leper. Our valleys are no less ominous but as we share in the brotherhood of his suffering, so too do we share in the beauty of Christ's cleansing power! Rescue - Recovery - Restoration - Liberation - Freedom - JOY in and because of our Lord.

Father God, we realize and accept the fact that from time to time we will encounter valleys but all the while we look toward those times - not with fear and trepidation - but rather with full confidence in Your mercy and Your power and Your grace. There isn't one of us who would ask for time spent in the valleys but knowing that You will never leave us or forsake us we are lead to face our future with pure hope. May we always approach Your Throne of Grace with an attitude of gratitude that brings pleasure to You.

Father may it be so . . .in Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen and amen.
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