Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt (elevate) you.
James 1:6
But let him ask in truth, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
These are scriptures that help us to face and go through the tough or lean seasons of life. We won’t always have a great day, sometimes things will be hard. We won’t always be happy and excited, sometimes we will feel sad, hurt, disappointed, confused or just feel stuck. To get beyond those times, we have verses that encourage us, motivate us, and assure us that we can and will see the great days and happy times again.
First, we must always remain humble. By that I mean, remember God is the creator of all and He has full dominion over all things including the evil enemy, satan. When we humble ourselves before God, we are acknowledging that without Him we can do nothing, be nothing, nor can we endure the storms we face. Ohhhh but with Him, we can achieve anything, including getting through the hard stuff. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' When we are humble and admit that we need God, at that point we are surrendering to His will rather than our own will which allows God to truly show up and show out for us. We are recognizing that we are not perfect and we don’t have all the answers but we know who is Perfect and who does have all the answers.
Remember when you were a child, there were things you could not do on your own. Maybe it was something as simple as getting a cup from the cabinet or reaching the sink to brush your teeth. At the time, we recognized the fact that we needed help from an adult or older sibling and we asked for that help without hesitation. It was a natural realization and we expected someone to help. Afterall, it was simply a part of growing up. That’s what we experience when we are facing our tough times. We’ve come to a point when God is growing us up. The tough experiences remind us that we need God. It’s an opportunity for us to exercise and grow our faith in Him. And the experience is not just for us to grow, but for those around us to grow in faith as well because they too will see God's faithfulness in your experiences. The more we depend on God, the more evident His presence, power and faithfulness is.
We should always be like that child who recognized when we needed help, asked for help, and expected help. God says, recognize you will have seasons when things are difficult for you, come to me, ask me, and know that I will help you. Don’t ever think you are old enough, wise enough, smart enough, wealthy enough or healthy enough that you don’t need God. Every one of us will go through seasons in life when the only way to get to the other side of it is to understand Ecclesiastes 3:1, adhere to James 4:10 and to do James 1:6. Let’s ‘keep growing up’.
