Reading
SAA Notes
You will notice that the theme of the Book of Proverbs, wisdom & folly, is the theme of Ecclesiastes too. The section A Time For Everything is very thought provoking.
SJA Notes
* Bountiful God, please help us to take pleasure in all our toil here on earth, temporary and partial though it may be, for this is Your gift to us.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
As we read through Ecclesiastes it can be hard to remember the important truths that the rest of God’s word tells us.
God’s love for His people is steadfast, His faithfulness without end.
What is the purpose for our work?
The only place our work has purpose, true lasting purpose, is within God’s will, _His_ purposes for us.
From the perspective of the temporal, if we only exist in the now – Then purpose can be very hard to seek, to find, and to even see.
Because it is vapour. Breath. Vanity. What we work for will be another’s, either after we die or even within our lifetime.
So we need a better perspective, a stronger understanding of the reality of time/space/matter, of our created purpose.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
There is a truth in this verse, a reality to ponder, that can help us in our understanding.
There is worth and value in the NOW.
Some parts of our life, our experiences, our work, what we do – These things, their time is _now_.
And our loving God makes them beautiful, _now_.
Other parts, for God’s people the _not yet_ (then we shall see in full), they are looked forward to – Because their time has not yet come.
And they are beautiful in their time.
How good it is then that we have a God who gives us a life in the now that has value AND life, eternal life, in the not yet!
* Sovereign God,
Your word is true and pure, valuable for us every day.
Your word is living and true, a two-edged sword, cutting through the heart of things.
Please write Your word on our hearts today and onwards.
Amen.