W hen I WAS A BOY growing up in the country, one o f the bright spots at the end o f the year was the arrival of the new almanac for the coming twelve months. It had stories, jokes and farming information and it predicted the weather for fifty- two weeks to come. How the forecaster could mus ter enough courage to guess about the Fourth of July when it was not yet New Year’s Day was a wonder to me, especially since the average weather prophet cannot hit it right twenty-four hours ahead. But anyway it was an interesting almanac and by the end of the year it was a well-worn and much-thumbed volume. In our homes there lies a Bible and therein is the calendar of God but most of us know far less about it than we knew about our almanacs back on the farm. The Bible may be a best-seller but that can be made to mean too much: most people who own one know almost nothing about what is in it. Least o f all do they know how to tell what time it is and to know the seasons in the Heavenly Almanac. The Bible has much to say about “times and seasons.” Of course, the four seasons of the year are the creation of God. When He set the rainbow in the sky after the flood, He said, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.” In his words to the people of Lystra, Paul spoke of “ the living God” who “ gave us fruit ful seasons.” I would not like to live, if I could, where there is only one season, for God has or dained variety and there is a sermon in every change of the year. There are historical and spiritual seasons too. Some of them we cannot understand for our Lord said, “ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power” (Acts 1 :7). But Paul wrote to the Thessa- lonians, “ But of the times and the seasons, breth ren, ye have no need that I write unto you” (I Thess. 5 :1). To the church at Rome he wrote, “ And that knowing the time . . . or THE SEASON . . . that now it is high time to awake out of sleep” (Rom. 18:11). We can know what time it is in the calendar of God and although we cannot prophesy the details of His program, we can know when it is autumn for the sinner and springtime for the saint. The prophet Jeremiah lived through the de cline and fall o f God’s chosen people. He said, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20). What a long winter they have had! But our Lord told us that when we see
THE CALENDAR OF GOD
by Dr. Vance Havner
JULY, 1967
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