"Mutability"

 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:" (Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV)

  "One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. He replied, "You know the saying, 'Red sky a night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.' You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times! Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah." Then Jesus left them and went away." (Matthew 16:1-4 NLT)

 Just to make clear the reason for this, repeat and change of the title, each of these times and seasons are all about two different things. Time, whether you know it or not, doesn't change: every minute has 60 seconds, every hour has 60 minutes, and every day has 24 hours. But seasons, they change! 

 I know; there must be something wrong in my head! When I was a child, my mom would say, "You must have bumped your head or something," every time I would come up with some crazy thought. I can remember a couple I had; one was putting water tanks in the trunk of cars so tail pipes could blow through the water, causing less pollution. Another was that we were having more earthquakes because we were taking the oil out the ground, which was God's way of lubricating the plates of the earth. I was a pretty strange kid; some things never change! 

 The word in this title I lifted off from Matthew Henry's commentary, as he introduced this passage of Scripture, saying the first 10 verses represent "the mutability of all human affairs." We are only given so much time on this earth; some are given little, and some are given a lot; but everyone has the same number of seconds in every minute, the same number of minutes in every hour, and the same number of hours in every day, as long as they might live. 

 Seasons, although they are still based upon time, they change; whether we are talking about the earth, the sky, the sea, or you and me; we all have seasons that we live in and walk in, throughout our lives, however long, that might be!

 However! There is another practical side, to every time or season; one that does not change, nor is not based upon time: the spiritual world that is all around us! God made the time and seasons for mankind to live by; but His world is eternal and is not based upon time and seasons! Jesus lived here in human form, yet He was God, which means that He had to live as we do, based upon the time and the seasons.

 But here's the catch: He knew what time and season He was living in, each and every day...

"Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what your life will be tomorrow? Your life is like a morning fog - it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." (James 4:13-17 NLT)