Don’t Work So Hard That You Miss the Season
By Dr. Kathy L. Amos
There is a difference between faithfully working the vision and becoming so consumed with making it happen that we fail to recognize what God is doing around us.
Business, ministry, and community leaders carry tremendous responsibilities. We make difficult decisions, manage financial pressures, respond to opposition, develop strategies, build organizational structures, and attempt to meet the needs of those we have been called to serve.
Because we understand that faith without works is dead, we keep working, planning, building, and believing. Yet, while we are working the vision, we must also discern the season.
First Chronicles 12:32 describes the children of Issachar as men who “had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” They did not merely recognize what was happening; they understood how to respond to it.
That same discernment is necessary for today’s leaders.
We can become so focused on manifesting what God showed us that we overlook the signs, shifts, and changing times through which the vision must transition. The vision may still be from God, but its timing, strategy, structure, or direction may need to change.
Sometimes God is not asking us to work harder. He is calling us to slow down, draw closer, and listen more carefully.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Every God-given vision must pass through different seasons. There is a season to plant, a season to build, a season to wait, a season to restructure, and a season to release what has fulfilled its purpose.
The vision may not have changed, but the season has.
The calling may not have changed, but the strategy has.
The purpose may not have changed, but the structure supporting it may need to change.
We must remain close enough to God to recognize the difference.
When we are determined to accomplish something, we can begin to interpret every delay, closed door, or unexpected change as spiritual opposition. Although opposition is real, every interruption is not an attack.
Some interruptions are divine redirections. Some closed doors are God’s protection. Some delays provide additional time for preparation. Some endings are evidence that a particular season has been completed.
Before rebuking the interruption, ask God what it means. Before forcing the door open, ask whether He is the One allowing it to close. Before working longer and harder, ask whether He is calling you to pause and receive fresh instructions.
Discernment helps us distinguish between something we must resist and something to which we must surrender.
James 4:8 tells us, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
We cannot accurately discern the season while remaining consumed by constant activity. There must be moments when we step away from the noise, silence the pressure, and enter the secret place with God.
We must put up our spiritual antennas, open our hearts, quiet our minds, and give the Holy Spirit permission to correct our assumptions and interrupt our plans.
In the secret place, God can show us whether it is time to build, wait, restructure, release, transition, or move forward. He can reveal what requires our attention and what we must stop carrying.
Faithful work is necessary, but work without discernment can cause us to miss the movement of God.
Busyness is not always evidence of obedience. Productivity is not always proof that we are aligned with Heaven. We can accomplish many good things and still overlook the one thing God requires in the present season.
The goal is not merely to make the vision happen. The goal is to remain aligned with the One who gave us the vision.
This week, do not ask only, “Lord, how can I make this happen?”
Ask, “Lord, what season am I in? What are You doing in this season? What are You requiring of me now? Is there anything I need to change, release, or approach differently?”
Do not become so busy building what God showed you that you miss what He is showing you now.
When we draw near to God, He will give us the wisdom to recognize the season, the courage to make the necessary shifts, and the grace to move with Him.
Dr. Kathy L. Amos is a leadership coach, business consultant, minister, and founder of the Kathy Amos Coaching & Consulting Firm. Learn more at www.businessempoweredintl.com/
