Show Notes
It's enough to give you spiritual whiplash. "A time to be born and a time to die… a time to weep and a time to laugh." That's straight out of God's Word. Sensational! How are you and I meant to find peace in the middle of that lot?
Think of it this way. It's like watching someone at the gym. They grimace through heavy squats, sweat pouring down – and then smile in triumph as they finish the set. Pain and strength aren't opposites there; they're partners. The struggle is what shapes the strength.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter 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. (ESV)
Wise old King Solomon of Israel wrote those words late in life, looking back over everything he'd been through and realising that life's seasons aren't random. Each one has a purpose under God's hand.
In a culture obsessed with comfort and pleasure, truly, we want to avoid the hard seasons at all costs. Yet those are the very times when God shapes us most deeply.
So, if you're in a season of sorrow or struggle, don't wish it away. Let God use it. Because in His timing, every season is a gift. Every tear becomes the soil from which joy grows.
That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.
More from FRESH Official Podcast
People seem obsessed with being noticed – climbing higher, getting ahead, standing out. But the higher you climb, the more tempting it is to forget who lifted you up. Truth: in God's kingdom, greatness doesn't rise – it bows.
Where's God when life hurts? That question has echoed through hospital rooms, gravesides, sleepless nights for as long as people have suffered. But the truth of the gospel is this – suffering is not the absence of God.
We spend our lives trying to avoid suffering – running from it, praying it away, pretending it doesn't belong in our story. But in God's kingdom, suffering and glory aren't opposites. They're two sides of the same cross.
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be flourishing in their faith while others dried up just as quickly as they began? They heard the same message, sang the same songs – but the results couldn't be more different.
We live in a world that tells us, "Enjoy it now. You deserve it." Don't believe me? Listen to the advertising messages that inundate you day in and day out, and tell me I'm wrong. But here's the question – what if what you consume today is stealing the harvest that God intends for your tomorrow?