Hard Season

Have you ever experienced a hard season?  I know I have.  I would venture to guess that everyone has endured a hard season at least once in their lives.

Hard seasons are unique to each person.  Sometimes, they are hard, just not too bad.  Other times, they leave you questioning.  You can question God as to why He is allowing this to happen.  You can question God as to where He is in the situation.  You can even question your faith.  However, the correct response to a hard season is to trust Jesus.  But you may ask, “Why should I trust Jesus.”

Jesus experienced hard seasons:

Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8 AMP)

You could argue that Jesus’ whole life as a man was a hard season.  However, He went through other hard seasons as well.  Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record the temptation of Christ.  After Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, where He fasted for 40 days.  Being in a weakened condition, He was hungry, Satan took the opportunity to tempt Him.

Matthew tells us in 4:2 that Jesus was “hungry”.  He was physically weak and exhausted.  However, He was hungry because He had just spent 40 days in prayer and fasting.  He was spiritually strong, not because He is God.  He is spiritually strong as a man because He had spent time with God.  This is a key to understanding how to prepare for the hard season before it arrives.  I’m not suggesting you spend 40 days fasting, then invite temptation to come.  However, I am saying that if you spend with God now, you will have the tools you need when the hard season arrives.

Another hard season that Christ experienced was the last days of His life.

During the Passover meal He shared with His disciples (commonly known as “The Last Supper”) He revealed that He knew someone was betraying Him.  He had carried this information around with Him the entire time that the disciples had been with Him but was just now disclosing it.

After the meal, He took the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.  He asked for His “inner circle” of Peter, James, and John to accompany Him.  In His moment of need, these 3 kept falling asleep.  He even told them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow —to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”  (Mark 14:34 HCSB).  Yet, by falling asleep, they let Him down when He needed them the most.

Then, a group of people come to arrest Him, led by the man He had predicted would do so.  And when the party led Him away, everyone who was with Jesus, “deserted Him and ran away” (Mark 14:50 HCSB).

Then, the sham of a trial took place, and Pilate condemned Him to die.  He was beaten, spit on, cursed at, and nailed to a cross for a long, agonizing death.

This was the ultimate hard season.  But I want to take a closer look at His prayer in the garden.  While His disciples slept, Jesus was all alone, facing what He knew to be ahead.  Matthew records that He prayed 3 times.  The first of which He said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39 ESV).  He prayed essentially the same thing twice more.

As a man, Christ knew what He was facing would be horrible.  He basically tells His father that if there is any other way, He would like that option.  But then, He says, “not my will, but yours, be done.” (Lk. 22:42 ESV).  As a man, Jesus was being obedient to the Father’s will.  You must surrender your will to that of the Father.  Lyrics in the Matthew West song say that “There is a reason, for every hard season”.  God holds all things in His hands, and He already knows how your hard Season will end.  Will you trust Him?

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28 NASB)

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Hard Season
Been a hard season, it’s been a broken road
All the dreams I was dreaming, they went up in smoke
But I keep on believing there is a reason for this hard season

I’ve been brought down to my knees, but I’m too weak to pray
So God, I hope You can hear the words I can’t say
Do You know what I’m needing, are You still holding me in this hard season?

I lift up my eyes where my help comes from
I fall in the arms of the only One
Who knows the reason for every hard season
Lord, You wrote the story that I can’t see
So even in the dark, my heart will believe
There is a reason for every hard season

When the tears and the trials, too many to count
When my last bit of faith starts to give way to the waves of my doubt
It may feel like I’m drowning, but I know I’m not alone in this hard season

Oh, I lift up my eyes where my help comes from
I fall in the arms of the only One
Who knows the reason for every hard season
Lord, You wrote the story that I can’t see
So even in the dark, my heart will believe
There is a reason for every hard season

Weeping may last for a moment, but joy’s gonna come in the morning
Blessings will flow from these battles and beauty will rise from these ashes
Oh, weeping may last for a moment, but joy’s gonna come in the morning
Blessings will flow from these battles and beauty will rise from these ashes
Weeping may last for a moment, but joy’s gonna come in the morning
Blessings will flow from these battles and beauty will rise from these ashes

I lift up my eyes where my help comes from
I fall in the arms of the only One
Who knows the reason for every hard season
Lord, You wrote the story that I can’t see
So even in the dark, my heart will believe
There is a reason for every hard season