24 April, 2024
Text: Gen 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
Okay, Spring is here. Really, really. I think it’s safe to say we are past the few “made you
look” Springs we had this year. My yard is about halfway snow-free, and the past
several nights have been above freezing. It’s safe to call it. Spring is here.
Interestingly the word “Spring,” as in the season, never appears in the Bible, Old
Testament or New. When we see the word in Scripture it means spring as in a fountain,
the source of a river, the rising of a new plant, or somebody jumping up. But Spring as
we know it seasonally, isn’t there.
This time of the year is called “harvest.” It appears first in Genesis 8.22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
This time of year, April and May, was the barley harvest. It was a critical harvest
because there had been no harvests in the Winter. If Winter started early, or Spring
delayed in coming, things could get pretty dicey. Food could run short, so the early
harvest was critical.
But it came. Harvest time came. The harvest could be good or bad, but harvest time
came. It came because God had said it would. It was His promise to humanity.
The seasons themselves are a testament to God’s faithfulness. We’ve been educated
to think that the seasons come and go because of the tilt in the Earth’s axis relative to
the sun, and the way the Earth loops around the sun. Now I don’t doubt that the
immediate cause of our seasons is the way our planet hangs cattywampus (a word my
Mother used a lot and I’ve never forgotten) to the sun, but the real reason is that the
One Who hung all the planets fixed it that way. He is faithful.
So we are reminded again that our God is good, that it is He Who has provided this
magnificent planet for our enjoyment and survival. So let’s gratefully enjoy the warmth
of Spring and Summer, remembering that they too will pass. The cycle will continue
until it’s time for this earth to pass away. And when this earth passes away a new home
awaits, one that will demonstrate His faithfulness every bit as much as this one does.
Probably even more.
Happy Spring!