Turn ... Turn ... Turn

Turn...turn...turn

"To everything turn, turn, turn, there is a season. Turn, turn, turn, and a time for every purpose under heaven." Maybe some of you remember that song from a few years back. The Byrds made this song famous in the 1960's. Back then I thought it was a neat song but had no idea that it was based on Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
Our world turns and everything changes. Nothing is as certain as change. Some changes are pleasant...some difficult. Some changes we make....some changes are made for us. Some changes bring happiness and laughter....some changes sadness and tears. Many of us don't like change because it requires something of or from us...to do something differently, to change ourselves in some way. We get comfortable in the way things are in the present. There are some who will fight change tooth and nail EVEN IF it means a change for the better. As miserable as things may be at least you "know" it well....but change? What will that be like? How will I handle it? All the uncertainly can cause so much anxiety!
But it doesn't have to be this way. The Bible tells us to expect change and then put our trust and hope in our sovereign Lord because God has a purpose and plan for it all. We witness change all around us every day. All we have to do is look at the seasons. We have just witnessed all our green trees turn into beautiful hues of yellow, gold, red and brown...and watched them fall to the ground. Then "turn, turn, turn" and in spring the trees will once again be green.
Sometimes, I'm the one resisting change. All my resisting only makes change all that much more difficult. Where is my trust? Where is my hope?
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."
Psalm 42:5 "Why are you downcast oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."
If I'm clinging to Him, resting in Him, trusting in Him I will not have any fear of the changes that will come.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose 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, A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 1

Change is certain, but God in His sovereignty has a purpose in it...and in that I will find peace.
Mary Ann