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Episode 19:The Seasons of Life · Coaching For Life

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: The Coaching for Life Podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Coaching for Life Podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis, a conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ-centered life.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always a great day to spend some time with my good friend and co-host Monty Williams.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And today, Monty, we are talking about the seasons of life.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Ecclesiastes 3 famously says that there is a time or a season for everything.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember as a young child praying right before I went to bed that, Lord, just make my life free from pain, free from suffering, from those seasons of loss and disappointment.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And as a young child, that was a naive prayer because we all walk through seasons of pain and discouragement, but also seasons of great joy and delight.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the books in the Bible where we see many of the seasons of life is the book of Ruth.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_04: Ruth is a book that I've read a number of times, but I just read it.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_04: And it's so different when you read study and pray.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's really different when you read study and pray and have to um do a pod.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_04: But I'd like to first take a look at one of the characters, one of the people, um, and her name is Naomi.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, she is the mother-in-law of the book's namesake, Ruth.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_04: And Ruth is is a beautiful story of God's redemptive and restoring plan.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: And it talks about someone who walked through uh various seasons of life.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um the context for the story is is a dark time in the Judges, um, where we see this theme, and it's it's quoted a number of times in the book of Judges.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_04: It goes, in those days there was no king in Israel.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_04: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_04: And we find um Naomi married to a man named Elimelech, and they're living in Bethlehem.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: But there was a famine in the land.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and during those times, a famine could have been evidence of God's discipline towards his people for the sins they committed.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_04: We see uh proof of this in Leviticus 26, verses 18 through 20, and Deuteronomy 28, 15.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it it's so easy for us to be critical of Naomi based on where she finds herself.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_04: Uh she was led by her husband uh into the pagan land of Moab.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_04: And along with um their two sons, Malhon and Chileon.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: And and Naomi was not from uh Moab, she was from Bethlehem in Judah.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_04: And during this transition, their sons take for themselves wives from this pagan land.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_04: And it just so happens uh this this tough season starts.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_04: They go to a place where they shouldn't have gone, and then Elimelech dies along with uh these two sons.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_04: And so Naomi is left with uh two daughters-in-law, uh Orpa and Ruth.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: And this was a tough, tough season.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: If you can just put yourself in that situation, uh there's a famine in in your your land, then you go off to a place where you shouldn't go, and and you're just following um your husband's lead.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it it spoke to me that I have to be so diligent in prayer and seeking wise counsel before I make uh decisions, because those decisions uh have a huge effect um on our family.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: And we see evidence of this in Joshua 7 when we see the story of Achan.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_04: It's a great reminder.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um as the story progresses, um Naomi hears that the famine is over in her homeland and she decides to go back home.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_04: But only one of her daughters-in-law goes with her, and that's Ruth.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_04: Sadly, uh Naomi, whose name means pleasant, she returns home bitter and she blames God.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh chapter 1, verse 20 explains that mindset uh well.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: What we find out is, you know, and we find this out in our own lives, is that the one thing that she could control is her own attitude.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_04: And unfortunately, Naomi blames God.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um we see this in Ruth 1, 19 through 21.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: She the Bible says, but she said to them, Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, which means bitter.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_04: For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_04: That's a tough place to be.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_04: That's a tough season when the circumstances of life or the choices that we make cause certain circumstances and we blame God.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_04: We know that the scriptures say that God's plan for us is good.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: But we also know, as you alluded to, that we are promised to have trouble in this life.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but this is a certain situation where uh Naomi was amiss as she blamed God for something that God didn't do.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: As we fast forward a bit, God does a miraculous work through the relationship and redemption of Ruth, her daughter-in-law, uh, through her kinsman Redeemer Boaz.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_04: And we find Naomi in a new season of life.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_04: Chapter 4, verse 13, Boaz takes Ruth as his wife, and they have a child.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: And as we read Ruth, uh chapter 4, verses 14 through 17, it's a pretty long uh deal, but it says, Then the woman said to Na women said to Naomi, Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_04: May he also be to you one who restores life and sustains your old age.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_04: For your daughter-in-law, Ruth, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_04: Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap, and became his nurse.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_04: And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: So they named him Obed.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: He is the father of Jesse and the father of David.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: This child ends up being the grandpappy of King David.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: Naomi goes from pleasant to bitter to blessed and restored.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_04: What an encouragement to us to not give up as we go through these different seasons of life.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: It reminds me of the song Waymaker.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: My God, that is who you are.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_04: God is always working it out for our good, but we can't miss the fact that he's working it out for his glory.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: The Bible says in Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: Isaiah 59 9 says, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts your thoughts.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: And Romans 28 is quoted a lot.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_04: But I also feel like it's it's so important to uh read the full counsel and look at verse 29.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: We always talk about Romans 28 in terms of God working things out for the good, and we see in verse 29 what that good is.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's conforming us into the image of his son.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: And through every season of life, that's his goal.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: I I used to think God's goal was to, you know, make me a really good basketball player and make me a really good coach and give me crazy contracts and notoriety and status and all the stuff.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: And as you study the scriptures, all those things can happen and they can be good in context, but his goal is to make us like his son.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_04: And through these tough seasons, we see this character, this lady, uh Naomi goes from um pleasant and full to bitter to blessed.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: And it's such an encouragement to us to just, you know, whatever faith we have, don't blame God.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh now, one thing I you and I both know he can handle us complaining and blaming.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_04: We see it in the Psalms.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: We see depression, we see anxiety of the psalmist.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_04: And God can handle that.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: But it's never his intention to hurt us.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's a lie that one Satan wants to tell us, it's also a lie that is being portrayed in society.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: Like that, you know, we ask the question, why does bad things happen to good people?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the reality is no one's good.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, only God is good, and his plan for us is good, and we need to rest in that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that uh study of Naomi.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she can often be overlooked as as we're as we're looking at Ruth.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but yeah, you're so right that Naomi went through these seasons and and it's reflected in her names.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know Naomi, don't call me Naomi Delight, call me Mara bitter.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she went from that that fullness to emptiness to fullness once again as her heart and her arms are full as she's holding her grandson Obid.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth is is one of my favorite books in the Bible.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a beautiful story.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to come back and look a little more specifically at Ruth in just a moment.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Joseph is another character in the Old Testament who went through the various seasons of life.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he when he was 17 years old, we see in Genesis 37 that Joseph and his brothers were out tending their flock, and Joseph brings back a bad report to his father about his older brothers.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: He tattled on them, and to make matters worse, their father showed blatant favoritism toward Joseph, making him this multicolored coat.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it says in Genesis 37:4 that their father Jacob loved Joseph more than all of his other sons.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And as a result, the brothers hated Joseph and they couldn't speak to him anymore on friendly terms.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And Joseph doesn't necessarily help his cause as he has these two dreams, and he tells his brothers about the first dream, and he said that in this dream they were all binding sheaves of wheat.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Y'all's sheaves, Joseph was from the South, Y'all's sheaves bowed down to my sheaf of wheat.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it says that they hated him even more.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: We don't see many character flaws as we study the life of Joseph, but this does show some immaturity on his part.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he he was just a teenager, but he really should have read the room and saw that his brothers weren't too happy with him telling them about this dream.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, maybe I should keep the second dream to myself.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: But no, he tells his family that in the second dream there was a sun and a moon representing his parents, Jacob and Rachel, and eleven stars representing his eleven brothers.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in that second dream, the sun and the moon and the stars all bow down to Joseph.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not the most humble thing to share, but he was actually foreshadowing Joseph's future, in which there would be a time when he would rise to the position of prime minister in Egypt, and his brothers would come before him and bow down, asking for food, because they were in the midst of a famine.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: But long before that happens, Joseph finds himself in a dire situation because his brothers, out of jealousy, they come up with this plot to have Joseph killed, and they throw him into this pit, and a caravan of Midianites come along, and they sell Joseph into slavery, and he's taken down into Egypt, where he is sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the brothers then go home and lie to their father, saying that Joseph has been killed by an animal.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this was such a valley for Joseph as his own flesh and blood have betrayed him and sold him off like a piece of property.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: And through a series of circumstances, Joseph is wrongly accused of a crime that he didn't commit while he's in the service of Potiphar, and he ends up spending years in prison forgotten.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: But God had not forgotten about Joseph.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And just when you think it can't get any worse, Joseph goes deeper into the valley, down into Egypt, down into the prison.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: But God will soon lift him out of that valley and that season and take him from the pit of the prison to the pinnacle of the palace.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you walked us through Naomi, and I think it's worth spending some more time as we look more specifically on Ruth.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: What an amazing woman.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Ruth, Ruth, um somewhat like Joseph, you know, forgotten.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: You know, she's a um a pagan from the spirit land Moab.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_04: And and in context, uh Deuteronomy speaks of how the Jews were forbidden to uh marry uh these Moabites.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: And she was in a really tough spiritual position.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Deuteronomy 23, 3 says, No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_04: That's a tough place to be when you have a law that states that you can't be in the presence of God.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: And what ends up happening, these pagan lands, they had their own gods, but they didn't have the one true God.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: And yet she's taken uh by Malon, uh Ruth's son as a wife, which is a strange occurrence, and it speaks to the depth of depravity where uh of Elimelech's leadership.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: He leaves the land of God, the chosen uh land of Bethlehem, and he goes to Moab.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, not only does he go to the wrong place, but his boys end up marrying uh two pagans.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: And and we just see the grace of God all over this thing because you know we were once like that.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_04: We were enemies of God, we had to be grafted in.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um and you just see God's um his love for us.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's a love that goes past anything that we can imagine because I know myself, like I just I would not do that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_04: Just being straight, like I just wouldn't do that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_04: But next we find um her a widow um without a patriarch as her husband and family leader both die, along with her brother Chileon.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_04: It's a tough, tough season for Ruth.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: Amazingly, somewhere along the line, Ruth is impacted by the Lord to remain with this family and believe what they believe and trust in the God of her new leader, Naomi.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_04: We see this in Ruth 1, 16 and 17.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_04: The Bible says, But Ruth said, Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you, for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_04: Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_04: Where you die, I will die.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: There I will be buried.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_04: We find her in a new season.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um she's in a foreign land, and Naomi finds provision and protection in this field uh belonging to Boaz, as they um Naomi leads her back to Bethlehem as she finds out that the famine is over, they head back to Bethlehem, and she finds herself in a field um gleaning from the field, which is tough when you think about it in context.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_04: Like a woman by herself in a field full of men, yeah, like that wasn't an ideal situation, but God uh provided.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um Ruth 2, 8 and 9 explains this well.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: Next, she gains a new reputation.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: Boaz replied, I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you have came to a people you did not know before.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_04: May the Lord repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_04: This is in Ruth 2, 11 and 12.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_04: She gains a new reputation, or she gains wisdom from Naomi, and we see this in Ruth 3, 1 and verses 3 and 4.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_04: At the feet of Boaz, she finds a redeemer.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_04: As a foreigner, a pagan, she needed a redeemer.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: Like us non-Jews, non-believers, we needed redemption, meaning, will you and I, because of the sin that we had committed, the sin that we were born into, we were enemies of God.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_04: But because of his love, we have this opportunity to be adopted.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: I love how Romans 11 17 puts it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_04: Now, if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_04: Naomi has been grafted in.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: She's a pagan, she's a non-believer.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_04: The law stated that she couldn't be in the presence of the Lord.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: Ruth is no longer Ruth the Moabitus, she is Ruth, the wife of Boaz.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_04: I like Ruth 4, 13 through 14.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_04: So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_04: And when she had relations with her, when he had relations with her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_04: Then the women said to Naomi, Bless the Lord who has not left you this day without a kinsman redeemer.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_04: May his name become famous in Israel.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_04: We talked about this when we shared about Naomi.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: From pagan and poverty to provision and paid for.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_04: But she comes from this background of pagan idolatry.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: And how God does the work in her heart where she sees this family with all of the death and all the stuff that happened, but she wants this God, she wants this new life, she wants to follow the same God of her new leader, Naomi, and how God blessed that.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't make sense.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: When you look at the law and you look at what happened, it doesn't make sense, but that's the grace of God.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_04: When I look at my own life and I think about the tough seasons that I've been in, and quite frankly, during those tough seasons, I I find I found myself quitting on the Lord because it didn't work out or I was just that hurt.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: And in my quitting, or in my frustration, or in my complaining, he stayed with me.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: And he provided just like he provided for Ruth.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_04: He redeemed, just like he redeemed for Ruth.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I I hope it's an encouragement to the listeners to even when we blow it, you know, even when we make a mistake like Naomi and blame God and and and change our own name symbolically from pleasant to bitter.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: That God doesn't quit on us.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: He's He is the Redeemer.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_04: He is this.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: Is a picture of his ability, which goes past anything that we could even think about.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_04: His ability to be patient with us, to lead us, to provide for us, to protect us.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Ruth was in a field of men, and she needed protection, but she was desperate.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: She needed wisdom.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_04: She got it from Naomi.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_04: Naomi told her to go, you know, do whatever he says.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we we need that.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: But that only comes from the Lord.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_04: James 1:17 says, every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_04: This is not some American contrived idea or storyline.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_04: This is the God Yahweh, Yahweh Shalom, the God of peace, Yahweh Jyrah, the God who provides, Yahweh Saboeth, the God of heaven's armies, like he is in our lives to restore, to protect, to provide, and be what we can't be for ourselves.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_04: And so when you read this story about this lady, um we find so many characters to admire, we find characters to learn from, but we see the Lord in it all and his ability to walk us through uh these tough seasons of life.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, it it is amazing.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I I would encourage the listener to go back and read Ruth.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's only four chapters and and and really spend some time just on a on a character study of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: We see Boaz as as a type in the Old Testament that points us to Christ, our our Redeemer and our rescuer.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's amazing how God allowed this foreigner and this outsider, Ruth, the Moabitist, to be in the genealogy of our Messiah, Jesus.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, often you you might read uh Ruth one at at weddings.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's it's read at weddings when you when it's it's talking about a uh a husband and a wife.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: But Ruth, this foreigner, this pagan, as you've been talking about, is saying to Naomi, Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful picture of devotion, but even more than that, you know, devote devotion to a mother-in-law, but even greater than that, Ruth is saying, I'm forsaking my pagan ways, and I am following after Yahweh, the God of Israel.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's a beautiful book, and just as you have so well said, Ruth reminds us that we too were once far from God, but now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we wrap up, you know, I want to leave the listener with a couple of words of application.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, let's cling to God's promises because the seasons will eventually change.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: As you just referenced from Psalm 30, weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we must be patient as we wait upon God.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23 also speaks of this when David says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: We will and we do walk through the valleys, but we don't stay there.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And here in San Antonio, we basically have two seasons, summer and nearly summer.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in the Christian life, we also face those seasons of spiritual drought and dryness.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know there are three families in our lives right now that are currently going through cancer treatment and chemotherapy, and I'm wearing these three wristbands to remind me to pray for them as often as I think of them.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: But they are walking through the valley right now, and there's discouragement and there's pain, but there's also moments of hope because of God's promises and his nearness.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes in those low moments, it's our tendency to want to withdraw and isolate ourselves.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: But it's in those seasons that we desperately need one another.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I always remember what Coach Pop told you 10 years ago.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let others help you, let others be there for you, draw strength from others, but most of all, strength from the Lord.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then point number two, we can rest knowing that the Lord is always there with us in each one of the seasons.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23 continues, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: God never leaves us.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as you have talked about in the story of Ruth, God was in his sovereignty orchestrating every aspect of her story.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: God is that constant, even though the seasons of life will change.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: But God is immutable, meaning he never changes.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: So as we wrap up, I want us to have a kind of word of prayer right now for the listener who might be walking through a difficult season.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so let's pray.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we do read in your word in Ecclesiastes chapter three that there is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, as we've seen today through the lives of Ruth and Naomi and Joseph, you allow the trials in our lives, you allow the seasons to draw us closer to you and refine us and make us more and more into the image of your son Jesus.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I know some are listening and they may be in that dry season, and they may be facing a spiritual drought, and some might be in the spring season of spiritual growth, and some others might be in that winter of despair and in that deep valley.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, as um we face these seasons and and wherever you might find us right now, uh, we just pray that through it all we would be listening to your voice.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: We know that you are ministering to us.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: We know that you are speaking to us even now through your spirit.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I do pray for our three friends who are walking through seasons of chemo and treatment.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: We pray for your healing power and your strength to Braden and to Abby and to Sean.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: We also pray for your peace to fill their families.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And we look to you expectantly for you to do a mighty supernatural work in their lives.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we pray this in the name of Jesus.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for spending time with us today.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, whatever season you are walking through, know that God loves you.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's with you, he's for you, he's got a good plan for you.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll see you next time.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us at Coaching for Life.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And please subscribe wherever you receive this content.