Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1-15
Solomon's point in this section is that God has a plan for all people. So He provides cycles of life and work for us to do. But there are many problems we face that seem to contradict God's plan. These should not be barriers to believing in Him, but rather opportunities to discover that, without God, life's problems offer no lasting solutions.
Read Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1-15
Timing is important. All the experiences listed in verses 1 through 8 are appropriate at certain times. The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept, and appreciate God's perfect timing.
When is there a time for hating? We shouldn't hate evil people, but we should hate what they do. We should also hate it when people are mistreated, when children are starving, and when God is being dishonored. In addition, we must hate sin in our lives.
Psalm 5:5 reads, "Therefore proud sinners will not survive your searching gaze, for how you abhor all murder and deception."
November 22, 1963, is an unforgettable day for those of us old enough to remember. President John F. Kennedy was shot. He, his family, and the entire nation were overwhelmed by an event over which no one seemed to have control. Ironically, we learned that day, the President had planned to cite the words of Ecclesiastes' poem as part of his address. That irony has etched in my mind the purpose of the poem. It was not to encourage Koheleth's students to do things at the right time as though they had full freedom to choose, which was probably to be Mr. Kennedy's point. The preacher's aim, to the contrary, was to warn them to accept God's fixedseasons and not to fight against His divine timing.
The point is not to blame God for a tragic assassination, but to call attention to the limits to human freedom. Many of us have calendars that guide our lives. In them appointments are recorded--often months ahead of time. Once the schedules are set, that book comes close to being the governor of our lives. It sets the times by which we do things; it controls with almost rigid regularity our comings and goings. And in so doing, it greatly limits our freedom. We cannot face each day with the open question, what shall we do? We have to face it with the closed question, what have we already committed ourselves to do? Whatever regulates our time curtails our freedom.
That is what the Preacher faced in one of his most famous passages. For him, life was a calendar in which all the key events were written by the hand of God with the result that men and women had freedom neither to alter them nor completely understand them.
Wanting freedom on our own terms costs us true freedom on God's terms. That is why Jesus had to do a new thing before true freedom became a reality: "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). The new thing was that God's only Son had come. The rest of us are slaves, unable to free ourselves. Jesus came as the Son, the one who had ever and always been free. He--God's free one--had the power and authority to share His freedom with us. And what freedom it is! It is the freedom to accept life as God gives it. Ecclesiastes said the same thing, but he said it more grimly. Jesus knew the Giver better. He knew how grandly God can be trusted. And he urged us to find freedom through trust: "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field. . .will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30). The God whom Jesus revealed can be fully trusted with the pages of our calendar. His love for us will not fail. Knowing that, we find freedom.
To expect unchanging happiness in a changing world, must end in disappointment. God's whole plan for the government of the world will be found altogether wise, just, and good. Then let us seize the favorable opportunity for every good purpose and work. The time to die is fast approaching. Thus labor and sorrow fill the world. This is given us, that we may always have something to do; none were sent into the world to be idle.
Someone has said, "God gave us the Holy Spirit to make us holy, not the happy spirit to make us happy." God cares more about our holiness than our happiness.
Your ability to enjoy your work depends to a large extent upon your attitude. You can't always control your circumstances, but you can always control your response to the circumstances. Work becomes toil when you lose the sense of purpose God intended for it. We can enjoy our work if we (1) remember that God has given us work to do and He has equipped us for particular tasks--vs.10, and (2) realize that the fruit of our labor is a gift from Him--vs. 13. See your work as a way to serve God.
We can never be completely satisfied with earthly pleasures and pursuits because God has created us in His image and has "planted eternity" in us. This means that (1) we have a spiritual thirst, (2) we have eternal value, and (3) nothing but the eternal God can truly satisfy us. The ability to enjoy life is one of God's most excellent gifts to us, although we can abuse it. God wants us to enjoy life. When we have the proper view of God, we discover that real pleasure is not found in what we accumulate, but in enjoying whatever we have as gifts of God.
Everything is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, and are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God's hand in them. The world has not only gained possession of the heart, but has formed thoughts against the beauty of God's works. We are wrong if we think we were born for ourselves; no, it is our business to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have but little time to be doing good, therefore we should redeem time. Satisfaction with Divine Providence, is having faith that all things work together for good to them that love him. God does all things, that men should fear before him.
What is the purpose of life? It is that we should fear the all-powerful God. Fear does not mean to cringe in terror, but to respect, revere, and stand in awe of God because of who He is. Purpose in life starts with whom we know (God), not what we know or how good we are. It is impossible to fulfill your God-given purpose unless you fear God and give Him first place in your life.
Far from feeling cramped by His control of our lives, we have the freedom to live today and to wait for tomorrow knowing that God's agenda is always best for us. The hand that writes the calendar is a loving hand, in fact a hand that loved so much it endured nails for our sake.
Away with arrogance, then! We do not control our future, God does. And away with anxiety! The God who steers us into His future is a God whose trustworthiness has been thoroughly proven--by Jesus Christ and by all who have truly followed Him.