Skip to main content

Providential Season

It's interesting that the older I get, the more I don't get.  I have discovered that there are just things unexplainable in life.  Things don't always work out the way I expect.  Life is often unfair and unjust.  It seems that if you make any headway in life, you're sure to have at least more set backs and failures than successes.  Yet, in spite of that reality, I have also discovered the freedom that comes from having a prospective on life that sees unexpected and unwelcome times as "Providential seasons."  What am I talking about? 

It was a much earlier time, back in the days of Roman rule and power.  All we have left to read is a letter sent to a friend.  The writer tells us that he is "sending his very heart" with all that he is writing.  We're not exactly sure of the background, other than there has been an escaped slave that has actually become a supportive friend and great helper to the writer.  But now, Paul, the one who writes, is wanting to do the right thing and send this slave back to his rightful owner.  But, he is hoping in making things right, that the owner will also do the right thing for the slave in receiving him back.  There's a lot at stake  with this request.  One has to wonder, why did Onesimus, the slave, leave in the first place?  Had he stolen from his master?  What kind of owner was Philemon, especially since Onesimus had run away?  What would he do now with a chance to take back a disobedient slave?  But those questions didn't seem important, circumstances weren't the issue, background facts weren't needed for explanation.  It is what it is. . . 

Providential pause is that time in life when God allows a circumstance that for all we think and know seems unwise. It often leaves us feeling out of control and desperate.  We find ourselves wondering "what are You up to in our lives, God?"  How could any good come from this?  How could this be the right thing in our life?  How could this be Your will? Yet, it is in this very season, that God reveals Himself, especially his love and grace. Paul writes Philemon and reports that this season of absence of Onesimus may be one in which Philemon actually gains him back not just as a slave, but as a "beloved brother" forever.  Eternity is gained for but a season of loss. . .

Today, I am thankful for the Providential seasons in my life.  Genuine peace has come from trusting the One who allowed this time in my life. . .  

"Thank God not only for what He provides but also, what He takes away.  Be consistent in your gratitude to Him.  Remember life is not just circumstances.  When you get to the place where your spirit is louder than your head, where you're aware that He is consistent--regardless of what's happening around  you, then you can truly be thankful 'in all circumstances.'"
(The Jesus Christ Show, 11/20/11) 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

But . . .

  I had to pause for a moment, as I began reading the text this early morning.  But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly:  they became stubborn and would not listen to Thy commandments."  (Nehemiah 9:18).    How often do I find myself verbalizing "but? what about? what then? what if? really?" All the phrases that feed doubt and angst into my life are found in that one conjunction.  Memory stands as the faithful argument against it, but when faced with future days all seems easily forgotten.  This verse comes to a people who had returned to their homeland after being ravaged and exiled by foreign powers.  Nehemiah is reminding them of who they are, and especially of their one and only God who has forever been faithful to them despite  their faithlessness and wrongdoing.  He reminds them how God is a God of forgiveness, slow to anger, longsuffering, overflowing with lovingkindness, never forsaking them even when He was totally forgott...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Breeze

  Gypsy Rose immediately prances to the back door as she hears her name.  We are ready for our morning walk, which has started later than usual, since I have some of these summer days off.  But it is still early enough to catch the morning breeze.  Walking south, I am refreshed by feeling the gentle wind all around me, it's a cool wrap in contrast to the summer sun.  But it all seems to disappear as I turn the corner and head west, my summer breeze is gone.  I am at a loss for it even as I continue north and east.  It's only as I begin the southern sidewalks back home that I am met with the blissful breeze.  I realize that though I wasn't feeling it for most of my steps, it was there all along, I just had to turn the right direction to get relief . . .  Sometimes, that is how my relationship with God seems.  Yes, I know He is ever near and is with me, but I don't feel that fact.  Sometimes my prayers seem to be in a vacuum, and I'm ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brief Moments of Grace

  "But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place,  that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a  little reviving in our bondage." (Ezra 9:8)   Summer welcomes me today with a cloudy cool morning and a subtle fresh breeze.  The day is probably teasing me with moderate temperatures before it will launch into more robust sunlight and heat.  The scorching temperatures have given an abundance of tomatoes, bush beans and yellow squash in my garden, while tormenting the kale, cilantro, spinach and herbs.  My refreshment is found swimming laps in the pool and teaching or rather reminding Gypsy Rose to stay in her lane while we swim together.  Days seem to run together, slip away too fast, as I often feel locked in a routine of sleep, work, cook, repeat. I know that I need to pause and reflect, because even in that daily ritual are God's brief moments of gr...
Post a Comment
Read more