The comings and going of seasons are never because the sun moves, but because we move around a fixed sun. So much for the science lesson – I am sure you knew it was always that way, even if the dark ages had the sun dancing around our insignificant orb.
The principle is as true of our relationship with God. We move into and out of seasons, but God never moves. He is the independent variable of this universe. The picture of a divine constant is also seen in heaven, where the glory of God is its eternal light.
The point here is potentially as radical as the moment when the inquisition finally buckled under the compelling evidence of Galileo’s heliocentric universe model.
I have spent years in churches listening to people deeply imploring God to “come and be with us”, or “visit this place or that meeting” – as though that is what God does. It just is not so. He never, ever moves. He is an absolute standard and we, through Christ, move toward and become reconciled to Him, not the other way around.
As any human standing on the face of the earth has observed, we rotate into and out of the sun’s rays, but the sun stays where it has always been. Similarly, our journeys in Christ bring us closer to and at times pull us away from, the constant presence of God. Whether by force of daily routines or adversity, we move in and out of fellowship with God, for as Jesus confirmed, “the sheep go in and come out and find pasture”.
It is so futile to implore God to come down and be with us, when He has made a new and living way for us to be where He is. We are even seated with Him in heavenly places.
The crux of this argument relates to our life seasons. Sometimes life has its virtues and other times it is a grind. That is as true of trees and plants. The sunlight fades, winter chills blow in, days shorten and nights lengthen: inducing trees to shed leaves and prepare for winter. Inexorably the warmth returns, to clothe the trees in bridal blooms and glorious greens, in anticipation of their destined moment of fruitfulness.
At the heart of this observation is a point that I have battled to grasp. The trees do not toil and sweat to reclaim their glory, they merely respond to the warmth of the returning sun and so become what they were destined to be. The path to recovery from your own wintry seasons of crisis, will likewise reflect our response to the energy, life and vitality that God pours into us as we move back towards Him. He appoints all times and seasons, so when the time is right, you will revive … without sweat or toil, because the light and glory of God will clothe you again and bring you to fruitfulness.
If you do not faint or pull back in the tough times, you will feel the subtle changes that mark the returning sun – and once it starts it will not stop until it is fulfilled.
(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net
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