I DO NOT KNOW the season of life you're in. But I do know you're in one.
Your season will reveal your strengths and weaknesses. It will show your friends and enemies and tell where your priorities lie.
Mordecai knew his enemy when he heard of the plot to kill the Jews in Susa (Esther 3-5).
Pharaoh felt vulnerable when he saw patterns in his dreams and couldn't tell what they meant (Gen. 41:1-8).
Israel could talk about Samson's strength when he killed the Philistines with the jaw bone of a donkey (Judges 15:16).
Eli noticed a pattern when Samuel came to him twice—this must be God, he thought.
So, he told Samuel to say, Speak Lord for your servant hears (I Sam. 3:7-11).
These people recognized their seasons and the seasons of others because they saw the patterns.
PATTERNS tell a story of peace and prosperity or adversity and chaos. They call your attention to something.
The ability to discern (see) these patterns will influence your actions.
MY QUESTION is: What patterns have you seen, and what actions have you taken?
When David noticed a pattern of victory, he built on it. He said the Lord who gave me the lion and the bear will give me the Philistine (I Sam. 17:37).
When Joseph noticed he had the gift of dreams, he stimulated it by asking the butler and baker about their dreams and interpreting them (Gen. 49:6-8).
He knew how to grow a gift by using it—and the more he used it, the better he became.
Paul gave Timothy similar advice when he told him not to neglect the gift he received through the laying of hands (I Tim. 4:14).
PATTERNS tell you the presence or absence of something.
When Ruth and Naomi noticed the patterns of famine and death, they knew they had work to do ( Ruth 1:1-6).
Jabez knew life was spiritual when everywhere he went, he caused pain. So he cried out to God.
Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain! (I Chron. 4:110)
What you see will determine what you do. What you do will determine what comes next.
WHAT DOES God want you to see?
He wants you to see yourself in the pages of the scriptures. So, it becomes a lamp to your feet.
David saw himself in the Word of God and said: When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that's higher than I (Psalm 61:2).
And the word of God jumped at him when Nathan told him a story.
God wants you to see yourself in the pages of the scriptures
TWO MEN lived in a town: one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had many cattle, but the poor man had one little ewe, like his daughter.
The rich man had a visitor. He did not take any of his animals. Instead, he prepared the ewe that belonged to the poor man for the traveller.
David was angry when he heard this, but Nathan told him he was the man (2 Sam. 12:1/20).
BIBLE CHARACTERS mirror the seasons of your life. They tell you there's nothing new under the sun.
They help you learn from people's victories and defeats, strengths and weaknesses. And when you take their successes and failures to heart, you'll see the seasons of your life.
When you learn to do this, their stories jump at you.
Bringing it Together
GOD USES patterns to get his message across to you.
Hannah was the picture of Israel when she couldn't conceive for years. And when she had a son, God started a new season in Israel ( I Sam. 1:9-28).
Watch the patterns you see!
Comments