You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. Psalm 74:17*
Unlike so many people I know, I love winter. Perhaps it is because I spent much of my childhood in tropical Nigeria, West Africa, and only saw pictures of snowy, wintery scenes. Or maybe because I don’t like to be hot.
Admittedly, I don’t particularly care for every aspect of winter. In Alabama, there is often a layer of ice under the snow that creates treacherous driving conditions. The older I get, the more I feel the cold in my joints and bones, and I would prefer more hours of sunlight than we get in winter.
We often equate the spiritual winters in our lives with hardship, pain, and suffering, and try to avoid our spiritual winters at all cost. However, if we understand that God created the seasons in nature and in our spiritual lives for a purpose, then we can find beauty in our spiritual winters, and in every other spiritual season we experience.
One of the primary characteristics in God’s design and creation of winter is cold weather, as seen in Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
We expect cold weather in winter, don’t we? During the weeks leading up to Christmas, we really love to see snowy scenes on cards and in movies. Everyone, it seems, loves cold weather. A week or so after Christmas, many people get tired of the cold.
While I realize that the cold, crisp winter air can certainly cause all sorts of physical problems for people, I love stepping out of the warmth of my car or home and getting that first full breath of cold air. It is invigorating, and if I’m a bit sluggish I wake right up. In order to fend off the cold, we can stay inside our heated homes and offices, put on layers of clothes and coats, put on our gloves, and drink hot liquids (hot tea is usually my choice).
When we feel like our spiritual lives are cold, we often begin digging deeper into ourselves and doing things that make it easier to fend off and deal with the coldness. When I breathe in or feel that coldness seeping into my spiritual life, it serves as a warning sign that there may be something wrong. At that point, in order to fend off the spiritual coldness, I need to look at my heart and see if there is any unconfessed sin that may be causing me to be less sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit or feel distanced from God. If there is unconfessed sin in my life, I must confess and repent of the sin, ask God to forgive me, and then walk in the freedom of that forgiveness.
There are times when the coldness experienced is a result of the struggles and trials in which we find ourselves. We may need a trusted Christ-following friend, pastor, or biblical counselor to help us navigate our way through our spiritual winter.
Consistent communication with God is another way to fend off the cold in our spiritual lives. We can ensure that we are reading, studying, memorizing, meditating and contemplating on God’s Word and applying that Word to our hearts as we obey the word. The other part of communicating with God is through prayer as we confess and repent of our sin, praise Him for who He is, thank Him for the blessings He gives us, and ask for wisdom and understanding as we walk through whatever He brings our way.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for all the season in nature and in our spiritual lives. We know that by design, each season serves important purposes. In our spiritual lives, our spiritual winters enable the work of the Holy Spirit to convict, teach, and sanctify us, and prepare us for the spiritual seasons to come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thought for the Day: God will give you the mercy, grace, and strength to fend off the cold in your spiritual life, and to bring warmth to your relationship with Him.
*Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®).
**Image generated by AI 01.13.25.
Start the discussion