Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.”
The region of America where we live shows off all four distinct seasons throughout the year, one of the reasons we love living here. When the calendar page is turned to reflect September, and the hot, muggy days make way for cool, crisp air, I am reminded why I am a huge lover of the Autumn months. Fond memories of my childhood are revisited each year with thoughts of playing in piles of fallen leaves, carving pumpkins, and baking my mother’s Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies.
Often times we miss the fact that prayer also has seasons and knowing which season we are in is important so that we can recognize how God is working. Mind you, looking back with 20/20 hindsight offers us greater insight into what was going on in a particular season in our lives. Certainly, that is true now that I have entered the “winter” season of my life—by age, not because of feeling old— and have much to see in the rear-view mirror.
It is said we are either going into a season or coming out of one: a wilderness season; a season of uncertainty; a season when God is teaching us to depend on Him; a season when it seems the Lord isn’t doing anything and that maybe He has taken His hand off of us; seasons in the valley where God is building our character, teaching patience, revealing a rebellious spirit, pointing us back to a right relationship with Him; mountaintop seasons where we are being used by God in others’ lives, where there has been an abundance of fruit. Even the most mature believers have had seasons in their lives when prayer was either not a priority, not fruitful, or avoided altogether, and other periods when it was dynamic and life-changing.
Many seasons have come and gone in my own prayer life, even short seasons within longer ones. As a new Christian at age 25, I was a young mom, still learning what prayer was all about. Prayer time was sporadic, fitting in here and there. As I moved into my thirties and early forties, it became more consistent and dynamic when I began prayer journaling, praying faithfully for our girls and my husband, attending studies on prayer. The season of prayer during my forties and fifties became more urgent and vital when challenges pressed on our family—a prodigal daughter, death of my parents, job changes—which drove me to my knees. But, out of it came great harvest. The decade of my sixties began with a season of personal challenges but then moved into a quieter, reflective season of prayer in my seventies, with more time devoted to a wider circle of intercession. With another Autumn season nearing, I am seeking how to better use my time, especially when it comes to approaching my prayer and quiet time with the Lord, to be more devoted, intentional and specific, and to widen my circle of intercession even further. My desire is to see the produce and reap the harvest God has prepared.
Just as in the cycle of the earth, our life cycle goes from one season to another. Embrace your current prayer season and know that God promises that harvest will come! No matter the season, no matter the method or no method at all, the most important thing is to PRAY!
Lord, God, You teach us in our passage from Ecclesiastes today that each activity in our life has a timetable and a rightful purpose. We acknowledge that prayer seasons have a rightful purpose as well. Wherever You have us right now, help us to remember that Your ear is always inclined to hear us, whether with audible words or from our inward Spirit when we are unable to form a prayer. Thank you, Father, for always listening and always answering. In Your Son Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Copyright © 2023 Marsha Richards / All Rights Reserved
