Today we are going to take a posture of peace by entrusting our season to God.
Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.
Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
In Daniel chapter 2 verses 20 through 22 it says, Daniel answered and said,
blessed be the name of God forever and ever to whom belong wisdom and might.
He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and hidden things.
He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him.
Now if you know anything about Daniel, you know that he was a man who trusted God deeply.
And as we've talked about before on past episodes, we know from Isaiah 26 3
that trusting the Lord is what unlocks perfect peace in our lives.
And I love the revelation that Daniel has here about who is in charge of seasons and times.
You know, I'm coming into the last lap, so to speak, of my pregnancy.
And I realized something.
July Lindsay, the Lindsay who first found out that she was pregnant, is not March Lindsay.
Meaning something has shifted in me in these past, you know, nine months.
I've grown. I've upgraded.
I've learned a new kind of surrender in facing the unknown of this journey.
And because of that, I'm so much more ready now than I was in July for the next season,
for the season when baby finally arrives.
And I believe that this journey of a season is the kindness of God to me.
You know, maybe you've experienced this shift in your own season of life.
Maybe you can think back on the start of your career, your ministry, your marriage,
and you think, wow, you know, I am not in the same state
that I was at the beginning of this journey.
Your heart maybe has been healed.
Your mind renewed.
Your skills sharpened.
Your body strengthened.
You know, whatever the case may be, what might used to have made you nervous or anxious
is now done in confidence.
Or what used to be unknown to you is now fully known.
You've experienced transformation in the process.
You've experienced upgrade while on the journey.
You know, and I want to remember this transformation that I've just experienced
moving forward into new seasons because some seasons will be joyful like the one I'm in now.
But I also know that seasons can be painful.
But for the people of God, all seasons will be purposeful.
You know, remember Romans 8, 28 says that we know that for those who love God,
all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
So every season, every season has purpose.
I used to have categories for my seasons of life.
I used to think, you know, joyful, happy seasons were definitely from God,
but painful seasons of suffering were definitely from Satan.
The problem with that belief is I lived as though even though I belong to God
through the surrender of salvation, I felt vulnerable that my life could
still be authored somehow by Satan in these painful seasons.
And that left me feeling susceptible to evil and carrying that belief and that
that susceptibility will steal your peace in a heartbeat.
But here's the truth.
If I am in Christ, like the Bible says, so are all of my circumstances.
If you are in Christ, like the Bible says, so are all of your seasons.
You and I are never separated from his goodness, even in pain or suffering.
He changes our times and seasons, not Satan.
Now, I don't believe that this means that God causes bad things to happen to us,
because I truly believe it is anti his nature to cause evil in our lives.
But we know that in this world, we will have trouble because it's a troubled world.
But for the people of God, trouble will not have us because we are in this world,
but we are not of it.
We don't have to live susceptible to it.
You know, think about this.
God doesn't
save us to hand us back over to Satan and his schemes.
Remember what we read last week
when Jesus said in John 10,
talking about my sheep know my voice.
They listen, they follow me
and no one will snatch them from my hand.
Even in suffering, God in his kindness strengthens us,
he guides us, he never leaves us or forsakes us
and he makes us more than conquerors.
This is the power we have because he gave us himself.
We can go into, we can come out of season stronger
than when we came into them.
Paul, another person we know trusted the Lord deeply
wrote in Romans 8, 18, let me read what he wrote.
He wrote that I consider that our present sufferings
are not worth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us.
David, another person who deeply trusted the Lord
wrote in Psalm 16, five.
He says, Lord, I have chosen you alone as my inheritance.
You are my prize, my pleasure and my portion.
I leave, I entrust my destiny
and its timing in your hands.
So no matter what kind of season
you find yourself in right now,
know that you are in his hands.
You can entrust your season of life to him today.
As you look to him and trust in him,
know that you are being transformed from glory to glory.
I've heard it called before, this is our training for reigning
and I just love that.
So remember, your seasons and the timing of those seasons
rests in the Lord's hand.
One last scripture before we leave,
something else for you to meditate on this week.
Jeremiah 17, seven through eight says,
blessed is the one who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They are like a tree planted by water
that sends out its roots by the stream
and does not fear when heat comes
and leaves will remain green
and is not anxious in the year of drought
for it does not cease to bear fruit.
This is the power of trust.