It's Not Always Going to be This Way.
Two of my favorite times of the day are my drive to work and my drive back home. How I make it to either place is a mystery, as I spend my drive 50% thinking, 30% listening to music, and 20% driving. The 50% thinking is my favorite part, and most of my best revelations and learning have been done behind the steering wheel. Yesterday I was pondering much as David did in Psalm 43:5 -"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." I felt weary and definitely discouraged. The message I spoke to the Lord was really clear, "God, I want a break!"
This past year has been the most influential year of healing I have ever had. With the Lord's faithful guidance, I have been working through 8 years of hurt and sin that was a mold upon my life. That being said, this year has also been really hard. It has been a year of intentionally pursuing the Lord to learn about forgiveness, healing, and change. I am having to change because the way I think and feel needs to be molded to God's will. Breaking my nearly decade-long thought patterns has felt a little bit like taking myself completely apart and putting myself back together. There have been a few times that I put the pieces together wrong and I had to rewire, but we are getting there through God's faithfulness.
So yesterday, when I wanted to scream "I want a break!" that is what I was thinking of. I was tired of working so hard to heal, tired of feeling broken and grieving along the way. As I drove past the river (my personal favorite part of the drive) I felt the Lord impress upon me this: It is not always going to be this way.
This idea brings me to the end of the Old Testament and the minor prophets. Specifically Hosea. In the books of the minor prophets, we get a firsthand look at the turmoil occurring in Israel throughout many years (This is a very historically dense time period so bear with me as I dare to contextualize)...Hosea (AKA Hoshea) lived and prophesied in Northern Isreal (believed to be the only writing prophet there with the potential exception of Jonah) during the 8th century BC under one of Israel's worst kings, Jeroboam II. Hosea prophesied prior to the destruction of Israel by the hand of the Assyrians in 722 BC (2 Kings 17:6). This was not the beginning or the end of Israel's troubles, as the overtaking by the Babylonians was also in their future. While there is a wealth of knowledge and history found in the minor prophets, in order to simplify, I will be focusing on the Words to Israel God gave Hosea.
Now, Hosea has a very interesting marriage to a prostitute named Gomer that served as a wonderful metaphor for God's relationship with Israel. While this is a beautiful part of Hosea, we are going to completely skip over that (but I would love to revisit it someday). Instead, let's look fully to Israel. In Hosea chapter 4, we read the Lord's words given to Hosea explaining the great sin and rebellion alive in Israel. Hosea writes:
"There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this, the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea are swept away." (Hosea 4:1-3)
Now, this sounds less than wonderful, doesn't it? In fact, it sounds pretty terrible. Not only was sin rampant but the land of Israel itself was not going to prosper. Therefore, the people would not flourish (and all who live in it waste away...v.3). Can you imagine living in Israel as a Christian during this time? Sin infiltrating your community, political/religious unrest, failing land...and on top of that, God was angry. I don't think I would've liked being in Israel at that time.
Israel was suffering, it was broken, and it needed to turn to the Lord and find healing. As I read and muddled over the chaos, suffering, brokenness, and anger of the Lord in this book, I thought 'This is awfully depressing, I can't write about this and leave it at that!' I needed a resolution, I wanted a 'happily ever after' for the book of Hosea. At a loss, I contacted a friend of mine who is a youth pastor (this was actually the first time we had spoken 'face' to 'face' since we were like, 8) and basically said 'Where is the resolution? Where is the happy ending?'
He simply pointed me to the end of the book, and he was right. In Hosea 14 we get a resolution even if it's not of the immediate kind.
In Hosea 14 what we read is a PROMISE for future deliverance, the Lord says:
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon, he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—" Hosea 14: 4-7
I WILL He says, they WILL. It is not a resolution in the here and now, but a promise that resolution will come. Put simply: It will not always be this way.
Like Israel, we will all go through difficult seasons. In our difficult seasons, it is hard to see the chaos, hurt, grief, (etc) coming to an end. We may look frantically for the immediate resolution and 'happily ever after' in the here and now. However, as we see in Hosea, even in the deepest brokenness, God promises future resolution: THIS IS NOT FOREVER.
The only way out is through. We have to walk through our difficult seasons in order to surpass them, BUT we must do so with the Lord. Hosea impressed upon Israel, 'return to the Lord' (14:1). While we may not have done a complete 180 and rebelled against God as Israel did, we still must return to God. We return to Him each day, we return to him when fear overwhelms us, we return to Him when sadness overtakes us, and return to Him when the 'happy ending' we want is a promise for a future moment. Wherever we wander, we must return to the Lord.
Now I would love to be unique and not use this passage when talking about seasons of life, but the reason why you hear it so much is that it is true.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
God has a time for everything. There is mourning, weeping, uprooting, tearing, but there is also dancing, laughing, planting, and mending. When we find ourselves in the less desirable times of life we have to remember: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end," Ecclesiastes 3:11. God is making us beautiful even when life feels heavy, and there is a promised resolution to our pain through the faithfulness of our father.
As always, I cannot leave without telling you of a few wonderful resources that have helped me understand/write this post!
Firstly, the Bible Project video on Hosea is wonderful if you would like more context and information on the book! Link: Watch: Hosea Bible Book Overview Video | BibleProjectâ„¢
And this series on the minor prophets offered through Bible.org! Link: The Minor Prophets - Introduction | Bible.org
And of course, the music recs! Couldn't forget them! Here are a few songs that make me feel encouraged in the waiting for God's resolution in difficult seasons:
Wait On You | Elevation Worship & Maverick City - YouTube (okay seriously if you related at all with this post listen to the words of this song & worship along)
Know You Will (Official Lyric Video) - UNITED - YouTube (I have been seriously JAMMING to this song for the past week and it seriously slaps my mind into gear. Believe the words and sing along!!)
Special thanks to my childhood friend turned super rad youth pastor, Amon McElrath, who helped me understand and then rework this post. I think I have now been working on it for 5 hours! He also has a blog that I will link below in which he writes creative musing, check it out! Link: Black Kettle Writing
With love,
Megan
Phil. 1:3-6
