Appointed Seasons

Do you know that God does not work on our time frame?  Do you know that our clocks that represent a 24 hour day mean absolutely nothing to God?  God’s time is different than ours which is one of the reasons why he never delivers our victories in our time frame. 

It’s not that God can’t do it in our time frame but most of the time, I’d say 99% of the time, at least in my life, God doesn’t deliver on my clock. 

If God delivered our victories on our time frame, what would be the use in having faith?  We would know that He is going to deliver us when we ask him too, so we don’t have to believe for anything.  We don’t get to grow in our faith in Him. 

I was reading a very well-known story, one that I really like in the Bible, about the man who was by the pool in Bethesda, for 38 years, and never found his way into the healing waters of the pool.  In reading this story, after hearing it many times, one line seemed to jump right out at me, and that is John 5:3-4

Waiting for the bubbling up of the water. For an angel of the Lord went down at appointed seasons.   What really stood out to me was at appointed seasons. 

Hmm… well I know that it’s not my appointed seasons, because God rarely delivers me in my time frame, and since it was an Angel of the Lord that was stirring the waters, maybe it was the Angels appointed season. 

After thinking about that for a little bit, it occurred to me, it can’t be the Angel’s appointed season because the Angel is directed by someone to stir the waters.  I know in my heart, that this is referring to the appointed season of God, but I had to prove it by process of elimination, that I am correct.

Appointed seasons, doesn’t just represent this solitary case.  Appointed seasons is a representation of any time frame in our lives when, we are waiting, patiently on God to move.   We are either waiting for God to deliver us, for Him to send someone to deliver us, or for the manifestation of our desire to be delivered to us.  There is some kind of waiting taking place on our part. 

God sends an Angel of the Lord to stir the water.  Do you know that water is a cleansing property, that water can wash away your sins, can represent your commitment to following God, and his ways?  When we are baptized in water, we are saying to God, we commit ourselves to you Lord, and I believe in the sacrifices made for me on the cross.  So when God sends the Angel down to stir the water, He is sending the Angel to cleanse someone of their sins, and give them a fresh start.  This is their appointed Season.

I just love this phrase, appointed Season.  I love it!  To me it’s not representing any period or length of time.  Your appointed season can be anytime.  You could receive your breakthrough tomorrow or even later today, it can be at any time!  It also isn’t limiting you to a span of time.  Season, represents a period of time, but it’s not specific to a day, week, month, year or years! 

Doesn’t this just excite you!  First God sends an Angel to come stir the waters to cleanse you, and start your life fresh, not only that, he does it at the time when he knows it’s best for you.  So in his appointed time, he sends the Angel and you are given your victory and that victory may bring many other victories with it, because you have entered into a season!

I can’t help but believe that the use of the word season here is referring to a changing of life, a harvest, not just one solitary time, though that would be enough.  I think if this was considered one solitary event the word season would not have been used.  The word season signifies a period of time or extended period of time where change takes place in the weather, temperature and in nature around you, so a season can’t just be one day.

This brings hope to all of us waiting for God to deliver us into our appointed season!!   God is not a respecter of persons so what he does for one, he will do for all of us.   

I have to marvel at the significance of a statement I have never really focused on before, because I was always so caught in the rest of the story.  I have heard many sermons in person, on line and on television about this story, and never had I heard someone focus on the appointed season.  I am sure this has resonated with someone else in the world, but for the first time today, I saw the story from a different angle.

I saw this miracle not only in the healing that occurs to the man, but also in the comfort of knowing that God has an appointed season for my victory, and deliverance.   It can bring you relief and comfort knowing that there is nothing you have to do, but what God has instructed you to do. 

Essentially, you can sit back with a cold drink and wait on God.  We can’t make God move any faster than he is going to, and we really shouldn’t.  There is a reason why God has an appointed season for our blessings.   Maybe if I would receive my blessing, before it’s ready, it would never survive the process of being perfected.  Maybe, I am not ready, and this would cause the blessing to become a thorn in my side, because I am not ready for the blessing. 

There is a freedom that comes in knowing that God has already set his appointed season for our victories.  If the blind, crippled, and paralyzed people, who laid by the pool in Bethesda (John 5:3) can wait 365 days for an Angel of the Lord to stir the water, then I can wait until God wants to walk me into my Appointed Season!!   Amen to God’s Timing!!!

 Let’s all take a moment and let ourselves off the hook of feeling like we have to work on a clock that the World says is appropriate.   There isn’t a rule book for how your life is supposed to go; there is a rule book for how we are to live our lives, but not for how the sequences of our lives should be.  There isn’t a calendar that says on this day you will do this, and by the time you are 35 you should be at this stage in life.  If that was the case, and truly the case, we would all be cookie cutter images of each other and this world would be very boring. 

We were all created for a purpose and we enter into our purpose at different times in life.  I also believe our purposes can change.  For almost 14 years I thought my purpose was one thing until God revealed to me he had another plan.   This all isn’t coming together in the time frame I want or would have liked for it to come, but it’s coming, when God knows that I can handle it, and I am ready for the responsibility that he has set for me. 

There truly is a responsibility in living in your purpose.  There is a level of faith, trust, and obedience you must reach and every person comes to that place at different times.  We need to stop allowing the world to dictate to us what our lives are to look like, to be acceptable to each other.  

Remember we are in the world, but we are not of the world.  Shake off the restrictions and labels that the world has put on you.  Smash the proverbial clock and walk the walk that Jesus has laid out for you!!  Wait for God to usher you into your Appointed Season and receive something that the world could never give you and that is God’s Timing for your life!