LADIES BIBLE STUDY

Biblical ABC’s:    S is for – Season

Mrs. Rick Jackson

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” 

 

The word SEASON is used 55 times in our English Bible, all but twice referring to a time or season.  What are we to learn about these “seasons”?  That’s what we’re going to see tonight, “to everything there is a season” or time.  Time is one thing that has been allotted to each of us equally the same – we have each been given a 24 hour day.  That translates to 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.  It’s what we do with those 86,400 seconds that matters.

 

PRAYER

 

I.            A Season   (without God)

 

We’ll begin with looking at “a season.”  There is an interesting verse in the accounts of the kings after the reign of David in the book of 2 Chronicles which says, “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.”

 

Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 15, and let’s begin reading at verse 1: “And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:    2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.          3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.                      4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.”

 

Here we find a time in the history of the children of Israel when they had forsaken their heritage.  They had forgotten their God.  God had not forgotten them.  And they were reminded of that very thing.  We all need that reminder.  God has not forgotten you.  Have you come to “a season” in your life when you feel you’ve been forsaken, that God has forgotten you?  Oh, dear one, God is and always has been, right beside you.  In your time of trouble, you need only to seek Him and call out to Him.  He is ever beside you.  I am reminded of what Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 7:7 & 8 – “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

Then there was an individual in the book of Acts who was without God.  Do you remember when Paul was imprisoned and awaiting his trip to Rome?  He had opportunity to witness to not only the guards who were watching him around the clock but also the different rulers who came to hear his case, some out of mere curiosity.  One of these was Felix.  We read in Acts 24:24 and 25, “And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.       25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”  Evidently, Felix was biding his time, waiting until the time was more “convenient.”  What do you suppose was holding him back from making his decision for Christ?  Was he embarrassed for the company he kept?  Did he have more questions about what he heard?  The Bible says, “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)” – 2 Corinthians 6:2

 

You know, a long season and a convenient season are too long to be without God.  It is important for us to be aware of a season in our life and those close to us.  There are others around us facing a season without God.  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

II.            Due Season (of blessings)

 

We next have what we find ten times in Scriptures, the due season, what I call, the “season of blessings.”  Galatians 6:9 tells us, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  We are told that if we continue on, if we don’t give up, we will receive the blessing! That is a wonderful promise!  This has been promised by the Lord from the very beginning.  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

Look with me at Leviticus 26:3 & 4, “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;              Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”  Again, it’s only a matter of doing right, following the Lord, and persevering, and then receiving the blessing!   This promise is repeated in Deuteronomy 11: 13 &14, “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,     That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

 

It is not only that the Lord blesses us, but we can be a blessing to others, merely by taking care in what we say.  Proverbs 15:23 says, “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”  Similarly, Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”  We are reminded in James 3:2, “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”  So, to be in due season, to say the right thing at the right time, is truly a blessing! There are 86,400 seconds in every day – can we consciously use those seconds to say and do what is right?  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

III.            In Season (timing)

 

Have you given our beginning verse much thought yet?  Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  I’ve quoted it several times.  Let me quote it again, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  What does it mean, really?  There’s a time for everything, it says.  Who’s in charge of that time?

 

When Job was afflicted after he thought he had lived justly and confessed his sins regularly, and his friends came to him and accused him unjustly, Job entertained thoughts of asking God why he had been put through such agonies.  But the Lord came to Job and spoke to him in a whirlwind and in Job 38:31-33 we see the Lord ask Job the following:  “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?                Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?  Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?”            Did Job have charge over when the stars appeared in the sky?  By whose order and timing did they appear?  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  What was the lesson Job was to learn?  The Lord is the One who had a “purpose under the heaven” for his life.  It wasn’t about what Job did or didn’t do, was it?  It was the purpose he had to fulfill in God’s plan.  He was to fulfill God’s timing, to be “in season!”

 

There’s a beautiful verse in Ezekiel 34:26 which says, “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.”  That is the source of Daniel Whittle’s song, Showers of Blessing.

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

 

Again, it is God who sends the showers in His season.  We cannot cause it to rain, we can only pray for it!  Jeremiah reminds us, Jeremiah 5:24 – “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

And what will all of that rain bring?  A harvest, right?  So, when we follow the Lord, keep His commandments, walk in His statutes, then Psalm 1:3 tells us, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

IV.            Night Season (of concern)

 

I want to pause for a moment and mention the season that many of us have uncomfortably experienced.  Too often, it has been expressed that when you become a Christian, you have no more troubles.  God does not promise a life without problems – sadly, we live in a sin-cursed world.   Job 30:17 says, “My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.”  And in Psalm 22:2, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”  The night season is obviously our most vulnerable.  It is the time we feel most alone when our cares press upon us and we may mistakenly think as David did in this Psalm that God does not hear our cry.  Oh, we must remember He is ever near!  Jesus promises, in Matthew 28:20, “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”  Again, in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  Although we must have the night season, the times of trial, we must never forget that we do not walk it alone.  We must not abuse those part of the 86,400 seconds that come in the night when we sigh and cry and fear that we are all alone.  1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

V.            Salt Season (for flavor)

 

Finally, I told you there were two “season” verses that did not pertain to time.  They are the following:

 

Leviticus 2:13: “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”

Mark 9:50: “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”

 

The one seasoning common all over the world is salt.  Why do we use it?  To bring out flavor in our foods.  It is an important component in cooking and adding flavor.  Jesus called it good.  God expressly commanded the Israelites to use it in their meat offerings – not to leave it out!  Seasoning is important!  Jesus said in Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” 

 

It is important to be “in season” in order to be salt that has flavor.  We want to be used of God.  How can we do that?  To be prepared!  Paul put it this way to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”  We find in 1 Peter 3:15 the admonition, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”  Again, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  That’s why we’re here, right?  We want to be salty!

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”