We are half way through the season of Lent. We are on the cusp of Spring, but still have some Winter-like weather we’re going through. We are in the ‘in-between” times.
Its difficult to live in the in-between times, because we’re not quite to a new season, and yet we aren’t exactly in the here and now. That’s a hard place to exist. We have a feeling of restlessness, a feeling of wanting to move ahead, and yet we are stuck where we are.
When we look around at all that is happening around us at this time, we may feel the in-between time more acutely and be even more restless. The economy is lurching from one extreme to the other. Oil/Gas prices have increased exponentially. Unemployment is taking its toll. The stock market is having some huge swings. The political parties are amped up and looking for ways to settle their messages to the electorate. Conflict is raging in several places, with possibilities for even more conflict being threatened. This is where we find ourselves right now.
I would say the above feels like an in-between time. We are stuck in a place where we can’t seem to break out and move ahead. We are desperate to move ahead and break out of this place we find ourselves. With all that has transpired over the last 10 or so years, some of us might want to return to the times before. The thing is, we can’t go back, and it feels as if we can’t move ahead either. We are stuck here.
This kind of feeling of stuck-ness invades a lot of different areas of our lives. We may feel it in our relationships. We may feel it in our occupations. We may feel it in our home life. We may even feel it in our spiritual lives. How do we cope with the stuck-ness in these in-between times?
In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we are reminded there is a time for everything under the heavens. So we know the times we are living through are part of our whole experience of life. But we also know there are other times that will come. As the author of Ecclesiastes has told us, “there is a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted…a time to break down, and time to build up…a time to weep and a time to laugh…a time to mourn, and time to dance.” This assures us wherever we find ourselves, there is a time for what is happening. This however, doesn’t seem to help when we find ourselves in-between what we perceive as a negative situation, and ready and wanting to move to the positive swing.
Paul talks in Philippians 1:21-25 about being in one place, longing for a different place…” For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith”
Again, we see Paul’s dilemma of wanting to move ahead, but knowing he must remain where he is in the moment.
Isaiah 40: 31 promises us if we will simply be patient, God will renew us and help us to move ahead with all deliberate speed. “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Maybe our time of waiting for newness, freshness, something different and better is best spent allowing God to renew us from within. In our prayer time with God, we can seek that newness of spirit and soul.
We may feel while we are in the in-between times as if we have been forgotten or abandoned, but God is always near and has something better than the current situation for us. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us…”For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”
This scripture gives me and you hope for what’s ahead. God isn’t finished yet.
As we continue in these in-between times, the Psalmist assures us in 37:23-25…”Our steps are made firm by the Lord when he delights in our way; though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.
I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
For all of us who are anxious, and feeling stuck in our in-between times, God has not forgotten us. God is working even now, preparing the road ahead, and preparing us, for what is about to come. Let us hold strong to our faith, knowing and believing the promises and assurances of God.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom