"As the seasons change ..."

Here we are again!  The season is changing ... tonight, this week.  I am SO thankful that God never changes and that His promises are always, "Yes, and Amen!" in Christ.  Here is one of those promises:  "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease" (Genesis 8:22).  As long as the earth endures ...

I was thinking of God's promises as I listened to the news the last few days.  What's going on in our world?!  While I certainly don't claim to understand every event that is going on, I CAN tell you that God has a plan and that you and I are part of it.  I can also tell you that Israel is part of God's plan.  As the seasons change, God says that's part of His plan.  As the events in the Middle East change, God says that's part of His plan.  HE controls both!

Listen to the words of God through the prophet Jeremiah, written during a time when God was bringing judgment on the Jewish nation - a judgment that would bring death to thousands, the destruction of the temple and 70 years of captivity in Babylon.  That would certainly mean the extinction of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ... or so it appeared.  But listen to God's promise:  "This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD Almighty is his name ... 'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,' declares the LORD, 'will the descendants of Israel EVER cease to be a nation before ME!" (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

God brought a remnant back to the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and through them the Savior, the Christ ... JESUS came into the world.  And He has a remnant yet today.  Once again, God has restored the descendants of Abraham to their land - to THEIR land.  Israel's God is "the LORD," the Almighty, the Holy One, the Great "I AM" - Yahweh, Jehovah!!  And through Jesus Christ, He is YOUR God and mine.  When you trust in Jesus for forgiveness you become an integral part of God's plan for the world, and this promise comes with it:  "And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to HIS purpose" (Romans 8:28).

What is bothering, worrying you today?  What is weighing heavily upon your heart?  You are not the first to wonder about God's plans - to wonder if He even notices what is going on in your life.  But the words of Isaiah remind us who God is and that He DOES have a plan - in case you are wondering:  "Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God'?  Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.  he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint"  (Isaiah 40:27-31).

The seasons will change, but GOD will not!  "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits!"