Are you in an unwanted season? Perhaps you are single but you really long to be married. Maybe you are faithfully working at job you hate but you desperately want to work somewhere else. Or perhaps you feel isolated and you are longing for more meaningful relationships.
Why won’t God just end this unwanted season for you? Here are 4 possible reasons to consider.
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1. This May Not Be a Seasonal Circumstance, Thus You Will Always Have to Deal with This Unmet Longing
Perhaps you saw the word “season” in the title of this article and said, “Season? This has been a problem my whole life!”
When faced with difficult and unwanted circumstances, there are essentially two healthy options that we will always need to jump back and forth between: acceptance and change. To keep our hearts healthy in the Lord as we navigate this broken world, we have to live with an audacious faith that empowers us to accept what is while also working with hope towards what could be (Hebrews 12:2).
In the points ahead, I will discuss paths that God may use to end this unwanted season, but first we must also recognize the very real possibility that this season may never end. How will you respond to God if he does not ever give you what you want? This is the ultimate test of faith. When people reject Jesus because he refuses to be their genie, this is a sign they never truly followed Jesus to begin with (1 John 2:19).
God will probably end this unwanted season for you one day. But God also wants you to have the faith and love to follow him even if he didn’t do what you want him to do. Why? Because he knows that no matter what he gives you, if he is not first in your heart, if he is not the main treasure that you desire, you will always be unhappy regardless of the gifts he gives you. 1 Timothy 6:6-9 states:
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
2. God May Not Be Ending This Unwanted Season Because He’s Creating Contentment in You, Which Will Also Help You Steward the Wanted Season He Is About to Give You
In most cases, when the Bible talks about letting go of what you want, dying to self, and not loving the created things more than our Creator, it also then instructs us on how to properly manage the earthy blessings too.
In other words, it’s an overapplication of Scripture to say that you must give up everything you want so that you can choose God. You must be willing to give up everything on this earth for Jesus, you must not idolize anything, and you must love God more than all other people, places, and things. But the Bible doesn’t actually command you to literally kill all your desires and not want anything besides God.
For example, in point 1 I quoted 1 Timothy 6:6-9. However, if you were to read further, 1 Timothy 6:17 states, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” This is the balance the Bible routinely teaches us. Don’t love things more than God. Don’t worship the gifts God gives. But do enjoy the gifts God wants to give you as you worship him above everything.
How do we do this? The key is to find true contentment in Christ no matter what is or is not happening in your life (Philippians 4:11-13). If you can’t be content in Christ with little, you will not know how to be content in Christ with much. While the season of lack might hurt more, the season of plenty is actually much more dangerous. When you don’t have what you want, it’s easier to see your need for God. But when you get the blessing you desire, if you have not learned to be content in Christ, you will always worship that gift and sin against God in the process.
Notice the order of Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” By delighting yourself first in God, he is then free to bless you with other things too because your delight in him will protect you from idolatry.
Thus, in love, sometimes God puts us through a very long unwanted season because he is preparing us to rightly love him still once he also blesses us with the desires we are asking him for (Deuteronomy 8:11-20).
3. God May Not Be Ending Your Unwanted Season Yet Because He Is Equipping You to Minister to Others
God often creates a ministry out of our messes. Maybe you are getting older but you really want to be married. Perhaps you will get married soon and then God will call you to minister to people who are also struggling with singleness later in life.
Or maybe you and your boyfriend or girlfriend are having a much more difficult dating season than you expected. You two love each other and you want to get married one day, but it’s also clear God is forcing you both to work on some issues first before marriage would be the right choice. Perhaps in the future God will help you offer pre-marriage counseling to others who are going through things you went through.
Or maybe you are building a business the hard way. No one is there to mentor you. But perhaps once you learn the lessons you need to learn, God will then empower you to mentor others who are starting a business.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
4. Perhaps God Has Not Ended This Season Yet Because He’s Waiting for You to Obey His Call to Step Out into the Unknown with Him
This point certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. Sometimes you can work as hard as you want and be as wise as possible, but still the unwanted season will remain for reasons that are beyond our current comprehension.
At other times, however, we are not waiting on God. Sometime God is waiting on us. If you are not doing what God has told you to do, you will not get the results God wants you to get.
Pray, “Lord, show me what to do to end this unwanted season and please empower me to obey you.” As Philippians 2:13 states, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
And if you are a Christian single woman who desires to glorify God in marriage one day, you may really enjoy my new book, Invite Him: 16 Rules from Ruth to Help Your Future Husband Find You.
To celebrate the release of this new book, I’m offering it for just $5.99 until 10/13/24. Click here for more details!
