And now for another devotional from nature. Our topic: autumn!
It’s fun to watch seasons change, and not just along nature trails and wilderness escapes like these photos depict, but in our neighborhoods and hearts. Autumn helps prepare me for winter, and it reminds me to treasure my days and life, for change is constant and inevitable.
Scripture discusses this so well, as in Ecclesiastes 3 — "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”…
Genesis 8:22 tells us the process of seasonal change has ever ruled God’s creation — “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Daniel 2:21-22 tells us why, for God is behind it all: “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.”
We can see in these changing seasons God’s ever-present hope and provision, as noted in Lamentations 3:22-23 — “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
All of this also remind us to not take our situations or environments for granted. As Romans 8:28 tells us, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
This does not mean all change is pleasant or goes down easy. Christ warned us of this, as quoted in John 16:33 — “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
How do we best take heart in change? By following Paul’s advice in Romans 12:2 — “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”