YOUR DRY SEASON IS OVER

Pastor Umo Eno

Dry season is when the heavens are closed above us. It is like a seesaw encounter where you become a rolling stone that gathers no moss. Dry season is that period of your life where there is no rain, a season where there is no moisture, a season when the fineness of life is taken away, a season when you plant and do not reap anything because the impact of the drought has killed whatever seed you sowed.

Dry season is that time of your life when all hopes are dashed, when you have done everything you could, yet no impressive result. It is a season where nothing you do works. This is that period of your life that darkness seems to be the order of the day. And even when the sun shines, there is no brightness, but all is gloomy and dreary. Dry season is a season when every effort you put at something fails to yield its expected dividend. At a dry season, you are economically bankrupt, socially bankrupt; when friends walk out on you, a season when help cannot reach you, a season when nobody shows you mercy,   when you suddenly find out that things go upside down. The harder you try to put them together, the more they swing the other way.

It is a season of loneliness, when there is nobody to comfort you, and nobody to talk to you; when nobody comes around to do you any favour. The saddest moment of one’s life is that season you are in trouble, and there is nobody coming around to tell you, sorry. It is the worst moment of life. That is what dry season does to an individual. A season where there is nobody to comfort you, and to talk to you. What a double tragedy it is when you are in trouble and nobody comes to comfort you. The impact of the trouble may not be such that can kill, but when nobody shows up to comfort and strengthen your faith with positive words, loneliness itself can kill you. Loneliness is a bad consequence of a dry season.

Have you ever wondered why some people are faced with temptation, and yet cannot pull through it? It is an outcome of a dry a season. Jesus our Lord himself faced this bitter state of temptation. He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. At the wilderness, he was left alone, abandoned by friends and family folks. He needed comfort, a word of encouragement but nobody was there. He was left alone with his troubles. Up on the cross too, he was abandoned, left alone even by the God the Father to die.

For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.  When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:  Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Deut. 8:7 -15.

The children of Israel had grueling bad experience in the hands of the Egyptians while in bondage. It was a terrible period, a dry season in every aspect of their lives. What a great relief it was when Moses told that the Lord was bringing them out of bondage into a good land. That news caused some excitement within their camps. I am hinting you now that God is bringing you out of dry season into a good and fruitful season. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place, Psa 66:12.

The pains, hunger and suffering that you are undergoing today in the wilderness will all come to an end suddenly. Interestingly, when he was talking to them, they were yet in some forms of pains in the wilderness. They had left Egypt but were still grappling with the harsh climatic condition of the wilderness. They had not entered the good land yet, but Moses saw it and boldly declared to them the good future that awaited them.  

From Scarcity to Abundance

God is moving you from scarcity to abundance.  Let me assure you here that the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land. You may still be swirling in the wilderness, you may still be walking and wandering in the wilderness; your experience is typical of somebody in a dry season.  I am declaring to you that the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, and that your dry season has come to an end. He is about to end the years that you have been roaming about the cities of the world with nothing to show for your efforts. He is about to end those years of dryness. God is about to bring you into a good land, a land that is full of brooks of water, fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley and wines, fig trees and pomegranates. Where God is bringing you into is a place that you shall eat bread in abundance. A place where there is no scarcity, where you will not lack anything. God is about to open his good treasures for you.

I declare to you that your dry season is over. This is your new season of laughter. God is laughing at your enemy concerning your matter.  

Evil Covering

Sometimes, dry season will close up heaven and there is no rain. At other times it may appear as if there is an evil umbrella covering you such that whenever the rain falls, it does not touch you. No matter how much it rains in a particular lawn, if you place a stone on top of a grass even if the rain falls heavily and the lawn turns green, the grass that the stone covered will remain yellowy and pale because it has not received water and sunlight. That is what happens to the life of people under a dry season. Is it not sad that some of us are under showers of rain and others bustle around as though all is well, yet the result they turn in is yellowy and pale? They are covered with this umbrella. Yet others still suffer scarcity in the midst of plenty. This is a dry season.

This season can hit a believer, a child of God spiritually. These are times when a person moves away from God, when he loses appetite for God feels that attending fellowship is no longer necessary. This is a season when he says, ‘After all these years I have been serving God, what have I received as a reward? It is the season when the devil tells you, ‘Sit at home, and don’t mind them.’ A season when the devil says to you, ‘Occupy yourself with something else.’

When you see a man in such a state, the dry season has set in. Do you know that dry season does not only happen suddenly?  It comes slowly, gradually, and then snowballs. Naturally, when the dry season beckons, the intensity of rain begins to decrease. One may even think that it would not rain because the weather is fair, but suddenly there is a downpour. This is how a spiritual dry season sets in.  A season when you are cut off from heaven; when you cry, and no response. Elijah, the prophet, once pronounced a dry season. It took him over three years to bring back the rain. May you never get into it in the name of Jesus.

When you inadvertently slip into a spiritual dry season, you can never come out in a hurry. Elijah himself was affected by the drought. He started hoping and looking for water for over three years. Why? When you are in a dry season, it takes time to come out of it.

Some people begin to slip into their dry season when the word of God is far from them, when they think that they know too much of God’s word, and don’t need to study again. Slowly, they begin to sink, and finally discover that there is no help anywhere.   

Everyone reading this article that is under a dry season, I declare to you that you shall laugh. The dry season shall be over soon. Your spiritual rain is activated; it is time for you to start moving forward. Your dry season shall end. Whatever type of dry season that you have been operating under; it will all be over. Dry seasons are so divergent.  Be it a social dry season: a moment when all your friends leave you and none to help, when you find out that you are alone.  A financial dry season: when there is no money, and you just don’t have a penny. A moral dry season: when you throw caution to the winds and say, ‘Let’s do anything.’  A material dry season: when you look for food and find none.

CAUSES OF DRY SEASON

 The first thing that brings about dry season is idolatry.

“Thou shall have no other God except me”. 1 Kings 16:29

And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.  And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.  And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun, 1Ki 16:30-34. 

Now, 17 is a continuation of that scripture. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand; there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

King Ahab became a wicked king who foisted a reign of idolatry on the nation and lured the people of Israel into idol worship. He married wicked Jezebel and set up altars of Baal in Samaria for Baal worship. His evil activities provoked God’s anger. Consequently, God sent Prophet Elijah to pronounced judgment upon Ahab and the entire nation of Israel. Dry season spread across the land, lasting over three years.

Idolatry easily brings a curse of dry season upon people. Many people going through this grueling season are idol worshippers.  You may ask, ‘Sir, how do I worship Idol, I am a born again child of God?’  Listen, idol is anything, tangible or intangible, that takes the place of God in your life. Whatever draws your heart away from God, and lures you towards it. Anything that you cannot give up for God is an idol. Some of us worship our spouses, our children. If you ask some people why they skipped church, they will tell you that they were on permanent duty on Sunday.  Others say, ‘Oh! It’s only on Sunday that they wash their clothes.’ 

Some don’t come to church because of they don’t have a head tie.  That head tie now becomes an idol that takes them away from God. Some will say, ‘Well I can’t come to church today because I don’t have clothes. I wear only one clothes…’ Clothes have become idols that stop them from worshipping God. Clothes have now become idols.  Some of us have idols in our home, idols in our hearts. Idols are not only graven images that you have to go and bow down for. Anything that gradually begins to take the place of God in your priority list of attention is idol. Do you know that unforgiving attitude can be an idol that hinders you from God? If someone offends you, and turns to plead for pardon, and you should graciously forgive. Are you the kind of person that even if people plead and beg for a pardon, and you will say, ‘No, I can’t forgive.’ That is why our dry season tarries. 

Other causes of dry season are disobedience, bad management and wastage of resources. If you are the kind of person that is prone to waste of resources, you would suddenly be caught up in the wings of a dry season. Egypt survived a dry season because Joseph, a prudent manager of resources, was in charge.  

Faulty foundation is another cause of dry season. When the foundation is faulty, nothing good will last. Laziness, greed, procrastination, unfaithfulness in tithes and offering are characters that attract dry season.  Also, satanic influence operating under the cover of the powers of darkness can cage an individual, and usher in dry season into his life.

COMING OUT OF DRY SEASON

Repentance:

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Act 3:19. 

What can we do to get out? First, we need to repent from all forms of idolatry and secret sins. Repentance is a voluntary willful change of heart from evil. It is forsaking the wrong ways and turning to God for a parson. Whatever necessitated the onset of the journey into dry season must be acts or habits that detest God. Sometimes, it may be your disobedient posture over some issues, or against God’s principles. Whatever they may be, just go to God privately and talk them over with Him. He listens. He considers. He forgives. Refusal to repent will certainly prolong your dry season.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy, Pro 28:13.

Seek God’s Voice:

We must also begin to pray and receive a word from God. One word from God can change your situation.

Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions, Psalm 107:19-20.

Moses gave them a word from God that soothed their nerves and stabilized their faith and hope in God’s ability to lead them into the promise land. He told the people of Israel, ‘I am about to bring you into a good land. A land of abundance and safety… Also when famine besieged the land of Samaria, and women began to boil and eat their children, Prophet Elisha came with a word from God. He said: ‘By this time tomorrow…, the dryness besieging the land shall be over.’  One word from God can terminate your dry season. May the Spirit of God use this book to speak God’s mind into your life, and terminate that dry season, now!

When the word comes, whatever had been dead dry, must jump up and live. Jesus says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live, John 5:25. Seek God’s voice in the wilderness of your life. When He speaks, his word stimulates rejuvenation, and a rebound.  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life, John 6:63.  

In addition; lead a life of obedience before God. When God speaks, He also wants you to act on it. It is the acting on his word that produces result. It takes your obedience for God to turn your dry season into your season of laughter. Make up your mind to obey him, and you shall laugh this season.

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD, Psalm 40:2-3.