Even perfection has its limits but Your commands have no limit. (Ps119:96) All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. (Ac4:32)
We had a large hydrangea bush on our drive that had beautiful blue flowers. While I was waiting for the garage door to go up, I would admire the flowers. One day I came home and our daughter had cut every single flower off the bush. I couldn't believe my eyes. The flowers had passed their best but they had a faded beauty that I admired. When I asked our daughter why she had done this, she replied, "So that new flowers could grow." Sure enough, not long after a new crop of beautiful blue flowers appeared.
The apple tree that I planted has 1 apple remaining but I am reluctant to pick it even though I know that the apple picking season has come and gone. It is so beautiful and even if I don't pick that apple, it won't stay perfect. It will start to decay and fall to the ground. That's what happens to fruit that is left on the tree, it will decay and the tree will prepare for the next season and the next crop. God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God's purpose is that people should fear Him.(Ec3:11,14)
Although God doesn't change, His creation, including us, is designed to move through seasons. If we try to hang on to a season of our lives because it appears so perfect and the climax of what we have been waiting for, something will change. It's great to be thankful for what we have and to enjoy the blessings that we have, remembering that whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father...He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. (Ja1:17) Many brides don't want their wedding day to end because they are enjoying it so much, but it does. The band goes home and the caterers tidy up and it's over despite all the months of planning. We can work hard to minimize the affects of aging, but we will age and die, we can't stop that.
If anything could be perfect it must have been heaven before Satan was cast out. "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you...So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire." (Ez28:15,16) Satan's attitude became a habit and an action, that not only disturbed heaven, but the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged...God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness... (Jud1:6) Satan and some of the angels were removed from God's presence - they didn't appreciate the position they had or the privileged position they had and because of this things changed dramatically for them.
The story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt is a familiar story to many of us. But one point that is not clear is why they stayed in Egypt for 430 years. (Ex12:40) Going down to Egypt during the famine of the time is understandable, and God sent Joseph ahead of them to prepare a place for them. (Ge50:20) But after the famine past and Joseph died, why didn't they return to the land that God had told Abraham that his descendants would possess? Prior to this when a famine struck the land during Isaac's time,(Jacob's father) God warned him not to go down to Egypt (Ge26:2) and confirmed that He would give the land to Isaac's descendants because of Abraham's obedience (Ge26:5)
After Joseph's death while the people were still free to leave and return to where they came from, why didn't they? There is no record of God speaking to the people during this time and no prophets wrote during this time. It appears that God did not live among them. Then the LORD told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress...So I have come down to rescue them...(Ex3:7,8) Why did these people settle in Egypt for 430 years when God had told their ancestors that He would give them the land of Canaan? God told Abraham that his descendants would be in a foreign land for 400 years but He never said that was His plan for them. (Ge15:13) Did they overstay their time in Egypt and no longer care about God's promise to them because they were comfortable where they were?
When Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders...and be killed... Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things... Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from Me, Satan! ...You are seeing things from a human point of view, not from God's." (Ma16:21-23) The disciples were waiting for a deliverer to free them from the Romans and everything was heading in that direction, or so they thought. But at the height of His popularity, Jesus was killed. That season of Jesus' time with the disciples was over. It was time for the disciples to preach the Gospel not free Israel from the Romans.
From the description of the early church given in Acts chapter 4 where all the believers were of united in heart and mind, the church appears to be perfect, exactly what Jesus would have wanted. But in Acts chapter 8 a great wave of persecution started suddenly and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. (Ac8:1) This idyllic church wasn't destined to last because its purpose had been achieved from God's perspective and now it was time to spread the Gospel through the believers who left Jerusalem.
We may be enjoying the season of life that we are in at the moment and think that everything is going great and perhaps it is. But nothing stays the same, except God and His Word, it is the nature of creation and life. Enjoy the day that God has given you today and if tomorrow something happens that on the surface seems to have shattered your life, remember that God allowed this change to come your way. It's not a judgement against you or designed to ruin your life, it is life and as God was in your yesterday, He is in your today. This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps118:24)
Praise the Name of Jesus!
These scriptures are quoted from the New Living Translation second edition except where stated otherwise. Where there are three full stops (...), part of the verse has been omitted.