“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons …” (Daniel 2:20,21)
“How long, O Lord!” is a common, mournful refrain in scripture. The good day we long for takes forever to arrive; and the bad day we want to be over won’t leave. We become sick and tired in our waiting. “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) Optimism is a good thing; but when the world we’ve been hoping for remains out of our sight for much longer than we expected, optimism can turn into dark pessimism and despair.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could change the times and seasons of our life on cue? “Okay, I’ve had enough winter, now it’s spring.” Or, “I’m done with this heat, cool weather starts tomorrow.” But we can’t simply “flip a switch” and adjust life to our liking. What then are we to do when we’re weary with the landscape of our life? Firstly, don’t tie your happiness to your situation. To do so is a recipe for a roller coaster ride of high highs and low lows. We need a more stable cause of joy in our life, and that must come in the knowledge that no matter what else we have or don’t have, no matter how satisfying or unsatisfying our life presently is, we have the Lord with us and in us and for us.
God can change the season we’re in, He can bring us out of a dry and thirsty land, but what is even more important? That we learn to live peacefully, joyfully, contentedly, in whatever state we find ourselves in, because our life is in God’s hands and His eye is always upon us for good. He would have us become overcomers in this life, not driven to bitterness, anger, and despair when things don’t go our way. This change of attitude is what He longs to see take place in in our heart; and it is not likely to happen in the best of days, but when life is at its grueling worst.
Make a decision to put off self-pity and grumbling, and grow in the waiting rooms of your life. Become more patient, more temperate, more thankful; less bitter, less envious, less angry. This is the change we really need. It makes all the difference between having a happy or unhappy life.