All Which Ends

As we slowly fade back into August this weekend, I'm dreaming of all the goodness that is to come in the following months. My mind has been on the changing of seasons and what a grace it is to move from one to another. Summer will come to a close in only a few short weeks and a new season will begin. Seasons always end, no matter if we are ready for them to or if we want them to. Many may think it is a curse, but when you trust in the One who holds all things in His hands, you know that all that ends must be for a good and glorious purpose. On this side of Heaven, the Lord has decreed such to be that all is subject to fade and die except Himself.

"A voice says, 'Cry!'

And I said, 'What shall I cry?'

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever."

Isaiah 40:6-8

Much has happened in the last month that leads me to believe that we are about to close one season and venture into another. My heart is full of joy and gratitude, but also a lot of grief and sorrow. I've found much solace in these words penned by Charles H. Spurgeon,

"Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God’s love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good."

It is the Lord's grace that all things come and go in this mortal life. Whether we are able to comprehend it or not, we can have confidence that God is for us and rejoice in the hope of His second coming when all will be restored and made perfect.