The Certainty of God in An Uncertain Year

If you live in the higher latitudes where seasonal changes occur, you have likely been blessed and encouraged by the beautiful days of autumn we have had in 2020.  This prolonged period without widespread killing frosts in our area have allowed Abby and I to enjoy the fruits of our landscaping efforts this year.  We are also enjoying hikes in some of our favorite Ohio natural areas.  In this article, we decided to share some photos showing the beauty of our landscape and to remind us all of God’s faithfulness which has affirmed our faith during this unusual year, 2020.

Outdoor Answers to 2020 Anxiety

For many of us, this outdoor blessing couldn’t have come at a better time.  This past weekend, Abby and I were blessed to hike in Johnson Woods State Nature Preserve, one of our wonderful natural areas in Wayne County.  Johnson Woods is one of Ohio’s largest stands of old growth forest where visitors can enjoy towering oaks, hickories, American beech, and sugar maple.  This 155-acre tract invites hikers to traverse the entire 1.4-mile boardwalk through both upland forest and swampland or take a shorter, less rigorous route.   Johnson Woods is actually changing through ecological succession from an oak-hickory forest to a beech-maple forest.  The latter tree species are among several species which are shade tolerant and thus able to establish their populations in the shade of the oaks and hickories which are less able to reproduce themselves in their own shade.

We also enjoyed our visit to Secrest Arboretum on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) one sunny afternoon.  This arboretum has both horticultural plantings and landscapes of native plant communities which are botanically diverse, beautiful, and inviting any season of the year.

Another inviting local forest tract, located a few miles west of the City of Wooster, is Wooster Memorial Park.  This 422-acre park differs from Johnson Woods, particularly because of its rolling topography which is dissected by steep ravines.  Wooster Memorial Park is an inviting treasure for botanists and birdwatchers in any season.

When Abby and I drove into the parking lots of the two natural areas, we were struck by the large number of cars.  At Wooster Memorial Park, we could barely get a parking place. 
“What is going on,” we asked? 
We had never seen such a large number of cars.   We soon realized that this large number of visitors was due, not only to the warm, sunny weather, but also by the increasing appeal of the outdoors as a place of safety and respite from virus-prone crowds.

Submitting Our Confusion to a Covenant-Keeping God

The year 2020 has given us many challenges.  We have faced a pandemic, the economic lockdown, limited access to routine health care, separation of families due to health and travel restrictions, alteration of classroom education, limited sports, online worship services, and a presidential election with an uncertain outcome. 

Meanwhile, most of us, and especially our children and grandchildren, depend on a sense of order, predictability, and security in their lives.  Yet 2020 has failed to deliver on these important needs, at least humanly speaking.  That is why we adults who live in higher latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres can be encouraged as we witness the predictable change of seasons.  And, we are wise to direct the attention of our children and grandchildren to God’s creation where we can observe, as the hymnwriter of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”  expresses so well,

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Of course, the weather is changeable and our climate is also changing.  But for those of us who believe in the Divine Providence of God, the regular, predictable, annual change of seasons is a tribute to God’s faithfulness. 

God is indeed faithful, and our faith in Him is not only self-reassuring in these difficult days, but can bring a wellspring of reassurance as we reach out to lonely people who are isolated from family and friends during this pandemic.

We conclude with a wonderful reminder from the Old Testament in which God assures His people of just how committed He is to His covenant with those who have put their trust in His plan of Salvation.  At the time Jeremiah wrote these words, God’s plan had yet to unfold.   Centuries later, it came to fruition through “the Son of David,” Jesus Christ, who died and rose again.  Those who put their trust in Jesus for salvation from our fallen nature will always be able to point to Him as Satan would accuse us, or when we stand before God as our Judge (emphasis mine):

Thus says the LORD,
‘If you can break My covenant for the day
 and My covenant for the night,
so that day and night will not be at their appointed time,
then My covenant may also be broken
with David My servant so that he
will not have a son to reign on his throne…
                                                     – Jeremiah 33: 20-21

How Do You Respond to the Seasons?
What is your favorite season?  
What activities have you enjoyed in that season?
What Scripture have your found assuring during this uncertain year? 
Or, if you live in low or tropical latitudes, how do you enjoy a more constant seasonal change?  If this article touches a familiar chord in your experience and in your faith, we’d love to receive your “Comments” whether written below, by e-mail (silviusj@gmail.com), or through face-to-face conversations.  Thank you for reading.

Acknowledgement
Thanks are in order to our friends, Chris and Lynsa Knickerbocker.  During my phone conversation with Chris earlier this year, and as I was expressing some concern over the politics of the pandemic, Chris remarked how much comfort and solace he and his family receive from observing the evidence of God’s faithfulness in the changing seasons.  Chris appreciates the annual regularity revealed in each plant species as it emerges and progresses through its growing season.  I thank you, Chris, for interpreting God’s revelation in this encouraging way.