Oh, What A Beautiful Morning ~ Oh, What A Beautiful Day!

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"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own."

~ CHARLES DICKENS

What a beautiful day! It must have reached 70 degrees this afternoon in western NY! And, as I worked outside, to clean up the rest of the gardens, getting them ready for winter, I noticed, in my November garden, a single red rose, in bloom!

It must have been that type of day, when the Angel of the LORD visited Abraham and Sarah, and announced that "according to the time of life," Sarah would have a son! And Sarah laughed! It was certainly past the 'season' for child-bearing, seeing that Sarah was 90 years old. (Genesis 17:17) How often do we believe the 'season' is past, then God surprises us with something only He can do? "Tis the season"!

God's ways are not our ways! And His Timing, often, is not our timing -- but His Timing is always perfect! There is "much" He has to work out ~ in our lives, in our character, in our relationships -- before He can entrust us with His redemptive plans and purposes ~ in serving Him. He uses the "wheel of circumstances" to fashion our lives, molding us into His image, and all that He's designed for us -- just as a potter would mold some clay for a specific use.
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"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." ~ Isaiah 55:8-9
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At the Lord's "appointed time" He "visited Sarah" as He had said, and He "did unto Sarah" as He had spoken! (Genesis 18:14; 21:1) God named this baby "Isaac" which means "laughter" ~ because Sarah laughed at the idea of bearing a child in her old age!

The Lord gently reminded Sarah:

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"Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

Genesis 18:14

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We, too, must often "wait for the Lord" -- for the promises He has spoken to our hearts, and for His guidance and direction in our lives. His answers don't always come right away - as we'd like them to! Rather, we must wait for it! When we get discouraged, and feel too much time has gone by, we must ask Him to strengthen our hearts to "wait"!! He is always faithful to encourage us -- whether through His Word, through something shared by a friend, or through a circumstance, because, He is FAITHFUL! Let's not impeach His Word or His Character, by giving in to doubt... by having our attitudes reveal that, in fact, we actually believe: He isn't able! Or - in believing that He may have lied to us - going back on His Word, or that He simply has not followed through on His promises. God's Word tells us that we're the ones that need to "follow on":

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"...follow on to know..."

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: His going forth is prepared as the morning;

and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." ~ Hosea 6:3

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This wonderful verse imparts a whole lot of understanding about God's Timing! It tells us, first, that we must "follow on to know"! If we quit waiting and quit hoping, quit praying, and quit seeking the Lord -- whether individually, or with others -- by moving on with our lives and taking matters into our own hands, doing our best thinking, apart from God, ... we'll never know! We'll never know, then, what God might have been preparing to work through us!

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Secondly, it tells us, that, "His going forth" is PREPARED. And, to emphasize this point, God gives us an example: "prepared as the morning." Did the morning ever come sooner than it was suppose to? Does the morning just "pop up" whenever it wants? No, God has a "set time" for the morning, and this has been true throughout the ages. If there is something you can count on, it's that "tomorrow is another day" as Scarlett O'Hara would say! "As surely as the sun rises" --

God is telling us, you can count on His "going forth" -- it is guaranteed, and it will happen in God's "set time."
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Thirdly, God reaffirms this, when He tells us: "He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain..." These "rains" were indicators of the seasons in Israel. The "former rains" were the first rains, that came in the autumn, to soften the ground for plowing, making it ready for planting. The "latter rains" were the spring rains, that matured the crops to ready them for the harvest. The people needed both - in their "season." And it could have been a mess, had the rains come out of season! Here, God is saying to us, that He "comes to us" in His season. At the right time. His perfect time. He tells us:
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"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven"

Ecclesiastes 3:1

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You might be thinking, that you're not expecting to see "His going forth" -- or not waiting for some big "visitation" - not thinking that He's going to show up at your door, or, not believing that "He shall come unto you"?? ... So... how does God "appear" to us? In 1 Samuel, we find a really wonderful truth:
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"And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh
by the word of the LORD." ~ 1 Samuel 3:21
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When God reveals His Word to us, God "appears" to us! Jesus Christ is THE WORD, and John's gospel tells us, that the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us! (John 1:1, 14) God also declares through His prophet Isaiah, that He sends forth His Word, as the rain and the snow, to accomplish His purposes. Not only does His Word originate with Him, but He sends it according to His "season" --
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"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth,
and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." ~ Isaiah 55:10-11
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God "comes to us" in the same manner -- "in His season, according to the appointed time" --
to fulfill His promises, to give us a word of direction or encouragement, to work in the midst of our circumstances, and to bring healing, restoration, or salvation to those we lift up in prayer before Him. He hears our prayers, and He answers according to His "set time." This is God's Way --

and this is the means by which He "exercises" us. ~ FOR...

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"He makes everything beautiful in His Time!"

Ecclesiastes 3:11

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So, are you "waiting" for His Word? Have you placed yourself in a position to "receive His Word"? Is the ground of your heart softened by the rain of His Spirit, to receive what He's waiting to give? If so, like Abraham and Sarah -- with "Isaac" -- it's always pure joy, when He answers, because we're not just receiving "some-thing" -- we're actually experiencing Him! He comes to us in the midst of our circumstance ~ to redeem it for His glory!!

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But if not, -- if you hear His Word, and reject it, -- you may experience a "blindness" of sorts: never "seeing" what God might have wanted to do in and through your life, ... or a truth that He wanted to reveal to your heart, ... and as a result, you may find yourself "locked out" of God's perfect plan, and find your heart heavy with the labor of carrying the load yourself.

"Some sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High: Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help." ~ Psalm 107:10-12

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Wait! Good News!! God "exercises" us through these trials, and often, the very circumstances that seem to "lock us out" of blessings and fulfillment, -- God uses to reveal to us, that we have, in fact, locked the door from the inside! Keeping Him out ~ not letting His Word in! -- It is easy, after all, to release the lock and step out into the light of His Word once again. Simply call out to Him! He is waiting to "send forth His Word"! Waiting to unveil the hidden things, by shining the light of His Truth, and releasing those who are prisoners of their circumstances! He is a great and mighty God! And He is able!

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"Call unto Me and I will answer thee!"

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bands in sunder.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!

For He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

Psalm 107:13-16

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"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee

great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

Jeremiah 33:3

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What "season" are you experiencing in your life?

Are you waiting on the Lord to fulfill His Word to you?

Are you "following on to know"?-

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"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage,

and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD!"

Psalm 27:14

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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which 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;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace...

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

He hath made every thing beautiful in His time.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-11