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.”
Whenever a new year dawns I always have a long list of goals, one of which is a renewed desire to have a more effective prayer life. This will probably continue each year until I die as I will always seek it and never quite attain it. For many of us traveling the Christian road, this may be the one issue we tend to feel we miss the mark. Take heart, dear readers, 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.
Often times we miss the fact that prayer has seasons and knowing which season we are in is important so that we can recognize what God is doing. Mind you, looking back with 20/20 hindsight offers us greater insight into what was going on in a particular season. Certainly, that is true now that I am in my seventh decade 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 seemed the Lord wasn’t doing anything and that maybe He had taken His hand off of us; seasons in the valley where God was building our character, teaching patience, revealing a rebellious spirit, pointing us back to a right relationship with Him; mountaintop seasons where we have been used by God in others’ lives, where there has been an abundance of fruit.
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, attending studies on prayer, and praying faithfully for my husband and our daughters. The season of prayer during my forties and fifties became more urgent and vital when challenges pressed on our family—a prodigal daughter, the death of my parents, church changes, 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.
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 so that when you enter the next season, you are prepared!
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.
“There is a time for everything,
under the sun,
a time for everything.
So let Ecclesiastes sing
in the middle of the night,
in the wild
in the cold
in the back of your mind:
to you, my friend,
for all of time there
will be a time for everything.”
~ Morgan Harper Nichols
~ painting via victoriasmoon
