Why Spiritual Times and Seasons Matter for Us

As we approach the Christmas season, it’s not uncommon to see pins, T-shirts, cards, and other things with the following saying on them: “Jesus is the reason for the season!” on them.They often illicit a response somewhere between sentiment and nostalgia. Used as part of the great Christmas culture wars, it’s an effort to move the Christmas season away from commercialism. By switching the focus to Christ, many believe they can override the times and seasons of Christmas manifest through excessive buying and spending.

However…there’s one thing the sentiment gets wrong. Jesus is the reason for every season, not just Christmas. This is true of spiritual seasons as well as natural ones. Acts 17:28 tells us that in Him we live, and move, and have our being. No matter what we are going through (good or bad) and regardless of where the secular world might move, Jesus is an intimate part of the life of the Christian believer. If we understand the principles of times and seasons, we are better able to recognize His presence, no matter what we might go through.

Times and seasons in Scripture

The ancients lived in a time and place far different from our own. They were predominately agrarian, meaning they lived off the land. They fought hard against harsh elements and climate shifts to provide the basics of food, shelter, and clothing for themselves and their families. As rough and tumble their lives might have been, they were intimately involved with nature. They understood the intricacy of times and seasons. By watching the patterns of the sun, they were able to figure out the best times for planting, harvesting, and everything in between. Because their lives depended on their crops, herds, and flocks, they had to pay careful attention to natural patterns and recognize both good and bad signs for what was to come.

Very few of us live on farms today. Even farmers today have different methods of crop production available to them. Technology has changed farming, thus changing the relationship everyone has with the land. This means the language of the Bible – very agrarian in nature – can sometimes sound foreign to us. We might recognize “time” from the idea of chronology and “seasons” from winter, spring, summer, and fall, but we don’t always make the full leap to the intended meaning of these important words found in the Bible.

Times

“Praise be to the Name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise  and knowledge to the discerning.” (Daniel 2:20-22, NIV)

“Times” refer to the general time frame of God’s plan. The Greek word for “times” is chronos, which relates somewhat to the idea of chronological time. It’s a little different then understanding things happening on a timetable, as we often do today. Biblical chronology is less about linear time as it is about the arranging of certain events or happenings together for a divine purpose. We could compare the idea of times to the divine idea of providence: that somehow, in some way we don’t understand, God’s hand works behind all things in history. It doesn’t always make sense to us, but He is still there, moving through a bigger plan than we can understand.

Seasons

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NIV)

If times are bigger, circumstantial orchestrations, seasons are more personal, interchangeable situations we all experience. They are God’s work in each of our lives through people, places, and circumstances that periodically shift, much like natural seasons. We can also compare our spiritual seasons to the characteristics of natural ones. Sometimes things seem dead, cold, or quiet as in winter, only to watch things change and new life springs forth at the appointed time. There are periods of spiritual growing, sowing, and reaping, all culminating in a spiritual harvest. We move through times of drought, flood, sun, and rain, and learn to navigate our spiritual lives as we move through these different seasons.

Much like nature, spiritual seasons are cyclical. We shift between periods of life, death, rest, activity, growth, harvest, productivity, and purpose. By recognizing them, we are able to see everything has a purpose, all in its appointed time.

For how long?

Both times and seasons operate on their own divine timetables. Throughout the Bible, they can point to different time periods. We don’t have exact mappings of divine time because such operates through eternity rather than our sense of time. Typically times are longer than seasons, as it’s understood there’s more involved to create them. But some seasons are longer or shorter than other, and the same is true with times. More than anything, they point us to the concept of cycles, which offer us the eternal hope of prophetic promise.

Sometimes we talk about spiritual lessons as if they’re a test we have to pass to move to the next level. I remember hearing a well-known preacher make a statement to the effect that if we want to break out of our current season, we had to pass the divine test. God would keep giving us the same test, over and over, until we passed it. Perhaps it wasn’t intended as such, but I found the message discouraging. I pictured myself perpetually stuck in the spiritual third grade, retaking the same test forever. If we understand divine cycles, we know this isn’t the way it is, at all.

Rather than being “tested,” divine cycles repeat themselves. If we miss something at one time, we will, likely have the chance to get it right at another time. Circumstances, situations, frustrations, and yes, even joys reappear throughout our lives in different ways, offering us new ways to learn spiritual lessons. In this, we find a powerful message of hope. Failure isn’t the end, because life is eternal.

Where are you on times and seasons?

Even though their lifestyles were radically different from ours, careful study of Scripture reveals that human nature hasn’t changed that much from older times. We are still given to be impatient, selfish, and malcontent. It’s easy for us to miss God’s timing on different matters. We don’t understand why God can’t hurry up and do things on our timetable. It’s beyond us why we don’t get what we want, when we want it. We don’t understand because we don’t take the time to connect ourselves to God’s processes and learn more about times and seasons.

Do you recognize the greater times in society? What about in your own life? What season are you in, or better yet, approaching? Are you in winter, a period of rest? Are you in the newness of spring, or the growth of summer? What about the harvest of autumn? Taking the time to watch God’s natural order will help you better understand what you are going through, and when. As you embrace the idea of divine cycles, you can better transition through various circumstances that arise.

As long as we live and remain in God, we will have seasons of sowing, reaping, growing, harvesting, rest, activity, and yes, even life and death to our old ways of living. Every step we take is a part of His bigger plan, regardless of time or season.