Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

As we go through life we all make observations about how things work as well as how we think things ought to work.  We begin to see that we all have similar activities and our lives all go through similar cycles.  Solomon observes these things about life and records his thoughts for us.  While there is much truth in the observations that he makes about life; we must be very careful not to take his conclusions as being correct and biblical.  The text accurately records Solomon’s conclusions, much like the book of Job accurately records the speeches of Job’s friends.  However, we must not consider all of his conclusions to be accurate reflections of God’s will for us.  Solomon comes to the conclusion that there is: 

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING: There are different times for ever season and stage of life and even sometimes for every day of the week.  We are all born and will one day die. We plant and harvest, hurt and heal, demolish and build, cry and laugh, mourn and dance, throw and gather stones, hug or not hug, seek and lose, keep and toss, tear and mend, be quiet and talk, love and hate, go to war and make peace.  These are the things that occupy our lives and we must learn when to do what in order to live them well.  Unfortunately, we often find ourselves opening our mouths when we should just be still, collecting things that should be thrown away, loving what we should hate and hating what we should love.  Part of pleasing God is discovering His will about all of these activities and then doing them to the best of our ability. 

A TASK FOR EVERYBODY: God has given us work to do wherever we are in life.  Some people teach while others learn.  Some people build things while other people dispose of things.  Some people are fixers while others are experts at demolition.  Some people grow stuff while other people sell stuff.  All of these jobs are necessary and worthy of praise.  God has created all of these needs and is pleased when we do any of these things for His glory.  From our perspective some of these tasks are more glamorous or important than other; but God finds beauty and is honored by all of them.  God has made us in his image so eternity has been placed in our hearts so we have a desire to do that which will be of eternal value.  What we must realize is that God’s glory is of eternal value and that if we perform our tasks with excellence and for Him they are of eternal worth and will result in eternal reward.  We should take great pleasure in our work, do it with passion and recognize that our jobs and our very lives are gifts from God for us to enjoy and that He is honored by our rejoicing.  God is eternal so all that is done for Him is of eternal consequence and always will be.


A TRUST FOR EVERYONE: The most important thing for us to remember is that we must trust God.  He is the sovereign of the universe and has all things under His control.  He is the judge of all mankind and will make everything right in His time.  As we look at life we see things all mixed up.  There is wickedness mixed with justice and justice mixed with wickedness.  We don’t understand how this can be and in our hearts know that it is not right but feel helpless to change it.  We observe that death comes upon all men just like it comes to the animals.  Both good and bad men are taken by death; many of them far too soon from our perspective.  That is why we must trust the Lord.  He has all of this under His sovereign control and He will make all of these things right in His perfect timing.  Solomon sees death as a hopeless state and become very cynical about all of this, but that is not the conclusion that we should draw from this truth.  We can take joy in our work and our lives even if they are cut short or filled with tragedy because we are eternal beings and our lives are of eternal consequence.

Comments

  1. BonnieDecember 20, 2014 at 4:01 PM

    Solomon wrote this book as his observations of things "under the sun." This phrase is used repeatedly in this book. So he is right on all his conclusions, as how life turns out "under the sun." Only at the end does e even consider the eternal state to come.

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