Text - Ecclesiastes 3:5a
"A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones..."
Dear friends, I welcome you to the penultimate month of the year 2022. God has been God and good all through this year.
A gentle reminder for you as we round up: there is a season for everything. A peculiar season we all experience and is a continuous one is the season of training.
A season is a particular period when something significant happens. A training period is a time of unlearning, learning and relearning. God takes us through seasons to make us into beautiful instruments for his glory.
King David is one of my favourite godly models. David’s life gives us a template on how to manoeuvre the seasons of life and the period of becoming. While still a teenager, he was sent for by the Prophet Samuel to be anointed as king and after that event, a war broke out between Israel and the Philistines. The whole of Israel was terrified of the Philistine mighty warrior, Goliath, but David wasn't. Why?
Because God had been training him for such a time as that. He was equipped to go and he conquered the enemy (1 Sam 16-17).
In his later years, King David recounted the goodness of God, and how God had trained his hands for war (Psalm 18:34). When he was left alone with the sheep, David learnt to defend the sheep and he learnt to kill Lions and Bears. David didn’t go to Israel’s war college or special martial training, God had been teaching him in his place of doing his duties. God had tested him, placed burdens on his back, and let men ride over his head but after that, he testified that he came out as refined silver (Psalm 66:10-12). He had lived a life where he was always being trained, corrected and rewarded by God. King David experienced this season continuously and he testified of the goodness of God always.
Dear beloved, what you may have gone through this year is just God's training for you towards a future time.
It may take some time, some pain, tears, sacrifices, and cutting off some relationships. The best news is that, once you're done with God's training, you come out as refined silver fit for the master's use (Psalm 66:10).
Maybe you've been looking for a job throughout this year to no avail, be patient, He will bring you to that place of rest when you're done with the training. Or is it that you have the job but there are some hindrances at work due to a mean boss, or terrible colleagues? Maybe it’s that you've been waiting for that breakthrough but it isn't showing up yet.
As the year is rounding up, take time to reflect, what has God been making me learn, unlearn or relearn this year?
Be humble enough to ask Him to teach you, and be humble to learn, just like King David.
You can also choose to stop the training as King Saul did, and God will leave you to it - that's an obviously wrong choice.
This season of throwing stones and gathering them is God's love in action, you can never regret learning of Him, it's worth the while. Trust Him now and always, because He's training you for something spectacular. Keep on keeping on!
Glory to God!