Time

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil–this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 )

Ecclesiastes can be a very troubling book. It seems so pessimistic as the writer of Ecclesiastes describes everything as meaningless, whether it is wisdom, pleasures or toil. Yet there is a beauty in the writer’s words as we look past the limits of this world and see God.

In chapter 3, the writer describes the difficulty that we face in this world, what he calls “the burden God has laid on men” (verse10). What is the burden? The writer does not clearly name it, but it seems that the burden is time.
In verse 11, the writer gives 3 points about people and time. First, “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time”. God has made many beautiful things, but those things are in time and for a time. Worldly beauty does not last. The seasons change, fresh becomes stale, and young becomes old. As the prophet Isaiah writes “”All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field…. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”” (Isaiah 40:6, 8)

Second, the writer goes on to say that “He (God) has also set eternity in the hearts of men” and third “yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” God has put eternity in our hearts. We know that there is more than we experience in this world, but eternity is beyond our understanding. We can only focus on the times that we can see: the past, the present and the future. Each of these has its limitations. The future brings either hope or fear. It is a time to be planned for, but not to be lived in. The past cannot be changed. It is beyond out influence or control. Yet it is still with us. It is a time to either be held on to, if it brings us gratitude for what God has done, or to be let go of, if it leads us to bitterness.

Only the present and eternity are really important for us – the present, because that is where we are, and eternity, because that is where God is. The present is the single moment that we are in. It is the time when we can make choices and decide. It is the time when we can be happy and do good (verse 12), the time when we can find satisfaction (verse 13), and the time when we can look to God and accept the gift that he offers (verse 13). C. S. Lewis describes the present as “the point at which time touches eternity”. It is the moment to be lived in as we turn our eyes toward God and wait for eternity to be revealed.

Prayer:
• Are you troubled by the past? What should you feel gratitude for? What should you let go of?
Ask God to lead you in the way that you see the past.

• Do you live in the future? Are you held captive by hopes or fears?
Ask God to help you to plan for the future but not live in the future

• Do you live in the present?
Ask God to help you live in the present while you look toward Him and eternity.