He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every event under heaven.” Many people would recognize these familiar words, even if unable to quote the source. The first eight verses of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 have to be the most often quoted from the book. The lines are used regularly at funerals, reminding us that death is as much a reality of life as is birth. As we read through the couplets of verses 2-8, some of the statements easily translate for any modern reader. “A time to give birth, and a time to die.” “A time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Other statements may require a bit of cultural insight. “A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones.” None of these truths give us pause.
Yet there are among these verses declarations we might find problematic. “A time to kill, and a time to heal.” “A time to love, and a time to hate.” Statements like that may not settle well in our spirits, especially when we are trying to live in response to a God whom we understand to be loving and good. To make matters worse, the language used by the writer indicates that God does not simply concede that these unpleasant things (by our definition) will happen, but that God has actually ordained such things as part of our whole life experience. While some translations of verse 11 say that God has made all things “appropriate” in their time, other translations go so far as to say God has made them “beautiful.” This is not a mishandling of the word. Very often in the Old Testament the word is used in just this way. It is the word that describes Rachel rather than Leah (Genesis 29:17), young David’s countenance (1 Samuel 16:12), Absolom’s sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1), and Esther (Esther 2:7). They were fair, comely, attractive—beautiful. Could God actually see some of these things in that way?
Before we struggle too long wrestling with this, we would benefit from remembering what the writer himself admits: we are facing a mystery that is beyond human ability to understand. In verse 11 the writer, as clearly as anywhere else, suggests how he is going to resolve all of the questions that have frustrated him. That resolution looks beyond this life and the temporal world; it looks to God. God, says the writer, has planted a seed of Himself in the human heart. We might want to use different terms such as heaven, eternity, or the Kingdom of God. Whatever word we want to use, our hearts hold a seed of something lasting and enduring. That seed wants to grow in us, and we know it. The problem is that our hearts, that is our human capacities, cannot hold all the potential carried in the seed. This is why the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthiains 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” The wisdom writer would agree. In this life our understanding is only partial. We are unable to comprehend what God continues to do from beginning to end.
Even this is not the ultimate point. The writer is not simply saying that we won’t understand and, if we don’t like it, we just need to lump it. He says that God does all this for a purpose, to cause people to fear Him (v. 14). There is an interesting trend I have noticed among people for many years now. There are two facets of it, and they both work closely together, like two sides of the same coin. First, we tend to be very quick to make judgments about how God chooses to act when we read accounts in the Bible. Second, we are equally as swift to criticize God for inactions during our modern day. The first says, “I can’t believe God would do such and such.” The second says, “I can’t believe God would just allow such and such to happen without doing something.” Sometimes I wonder if God has to ask us to get off His throne so He can have His seat back. Wouldn’t it be better if God’s sovereignty over our days caused our hearts to be humbled before Him?
If we are blessed we will enjoy a fullness of years in this life. Like the wisdom writer we will have seen many things, gained much knowledge and had plenty of time to ponder the questions of life. Yet even if we make it to be a centenarian, our life will be as but a blink of an eye to God, and we will not fully comprehend how God puts all of the pieces together. In light of this, it seems that a prayer would be fitting to close.
Eternal God, I praise you for being Lord over all things, even over the span of our days. Help me to trust you in the face of things I don’t understand. Draw me toward the things you see as beautiful, even if I do not yet have eyes to see. May I remain obedient to your Spirit’s prompting, and so be aligned with all things that are ordered to your eternal purposes. I acknowledge your lordship over this day and every day, in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 