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God Works in Seasons by Pastor Kevin Feder

By Anonymous
There is no doubt that 2020 keeps getting more and more unpredictable. By the time we hit April no one would have disputed that what we were experiencing is something no one would ever have seen coming. Now that GCF is pushing into November we can say the same thing, we couldn’t have seen this coming and our situation keeps getting further and further from normal. 

I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has faithfully been walking with us through this season of life at GCF. It has been a corporate season of affliction but it has been more than that. As I make my rounds within the church and visit with people I can see many people are burdened. They are burdened with church, with life, with family, with big decisions about their careers, with bosses who are lacking compassion, even deaths of loved ones. 

It has led me to the conclusion that God does his work in seasons. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” 

You might read these verses and think of them as they apply to our church in the season we are in. The point I want to draw attention to is that God works in seasons and this season, as unpleasant as it is, will not only come to an end at some point but God will accomplish all of his purposes through it. Our weeping will eventually turn to laughter, our mourning will soon enough turn to dancing (with plenty of room for a Bible between us, of course), and our time of breaking down will soon give way to building up and healing. 

I find myself praying that God will soon enough lead us into a season of joy that is commensurate this season of sorrow, a season of light that is commensurate to our season of darkness, a season of laughter that will be commensurate to our season of tears. Consider Psalm 90:15 if you would, "Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil."

Some may object that we should call on God to bring us into a season of joy that is equal or even surpassing our season of pain. Psalm 90:15 tells us that God sees our difficulties and takes note of it and he repays us. Perhaps this is another glorious reality of the cross of Christ. While God does not keep a record of our wrongs (Psalm 130:3) or “repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10) God does keep a record of the evil we have experienced and brings gladness equal to it. When it comes to our sin God is not exacting upon us and for that we are eternally thankful to Christ. When it comes to the ways we have been recipients of evil God is exacting to repay us with good. If this isn’t gospel goodness I don’t know what is.

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