Ecclesiastes 3
Today's Passage: Ecclesiastes 3
My first memory of Ecclesiastes was in college. I don’t know that anyone had taught this book or challenged me to read it before that. My disciplerat the time suggested I do so, and I was blown away. It spoke directly to my heart. Our passage today, was a big part of what stood out to me then and continues to challenge me now.
In verses 1–8, I’m reminded that life is just a series of seasons strung together. Some seasons have been exceptional whereas some have been that of striving and heartache. Some seasons feel like they will never end, but in the rear-view mirror we can see just how quickly they passed. For everything there is a season, and we must always remember that our circumstances will change soon.
Verses 11–13 encourage me in my searching and uncertainty. In these changing seasons, God has given work for humanity to do. In our work we should “be joyful, do good, eat, drink, and take pleasure in our toil—this is God’s gift to man.” This is a call to steward that which God has entrusted to us. God has given people an opportunity to work. We receive life-sustaining resources from that work. After all, work is within our realm of understanding—we can see our God-given skills, gifts, and abilities as well as the needs around us.
What’s harder to understand is eternity and the things of God. God “put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” This reminds me that God exists outside the realm of my understanding. He has placed eternity in our hearts—we will always want to know, to understand, to grasp the things of God. Yet, we will never be able to understand more than God has revealed in his Word and by His Spirit.
In addition, we will never understand the injustice and wickedness in the world. Death is the terrible reality of life—but it wasn’t always andwon’t always be. “All are from the dust, and to dust all return,” and from ourperspective, that is true.
We know there is more to life than just what we can see. The Teacher will get there eventually, but chapter 3 embraces the melancholy of life. Life is full of good and bad. It’s filled with striving and work—work that’s not always fun. And, it’s full of wickedness and suffering.
Christ has given us unimaginable hope. However, as Christians we often fail to embrace the uncertainty and challenges that we and others face. Like the friends of Job we can be “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4) prescribing God’s actions and motives in well-intentioned, but misguided ways.
Hebrews 11 says that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” In faith, we trust God and his promises. However, let us also reconcile that hope with the fact that there is much we cannot understand. In our short-sightedness, do what you know you can do. Work for the Lord in the tasks he has given you to do. Do it joyfully. Steward the resources you receive from it. And, return the praise for these good gifts to the one who has provided them. The one whom we will all be seeing when our season comes to an end.
Written By: Tyler Short
My first memory of Ecclesiastes was in college. I don’t know that anyone had taught this book or challenged me to read it before that. My disciplerat the time suggested I do so, and I was blown away. It spoke directly to my heart. Our passage today, was a big part of what stood out to me then and continues to challenge me now.
In verses 1–8, I’m reminded that life is just a series of seasons strung together. Some seasons have been exceptional whereas some have been that of striving and heartache. Some seasons feel like they will never end, but in the rear-view mirror we can see just how quickly they passed. For everything there is a season, and we must always remember that our circumstances will change soon.
Verses 11–13 encourage me in my searching and uncertainty. In these changing seasons, God has given work for humanity to do. In our work we should “be joyful, do good, eat, drink, and take pleasure in our toil—this is God’s gift to man.” This is a call to steward that which God has entrusted to us. God has given people an opportunity to work. We receive life-sustaining resources from that work. After all, work is within our realm of understanding—we can see our God-given skills, gifts, and abilities as well as the needs around us.
What’s harder to understand is eternity and the things of God. God “put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” This reminds me that God exists outside the realm of my understanding. He has placed eternity in our hearts—we will always want to know, to understand, to grasp the things of God. Yet, we will never be able to understand more than God has revealed in his Word and by His Spirit.
In addition, we will never understand the injustice and wickedness in the world. Death is the terrible reality of life—but it wasn’t always andwon’t always be. “All are from the dust, and to dust all return,” and from ourperspective, that is true.
We know there is more to life than just what we can see. The Teacher will get there eventually, but chapter 3 embraces the melancholy of life. Life is full of good and bad. It’s filled with striving and work—work that’s not always fun. And, it’s full of wickedness and suffering.
Christ has given us unimaginable hope. However, as Christians we often fail to embrace the uncertainty and challenges that we and others face. Like the friends of Job we can be “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4) prescribing God’s actions and motives in well-intentioned, but misguided ways.
Hebrews 11 says that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” In faith, we trust God and his promises. However, let us also reconcile that hope with the fact that there is much we cannot understand. In our short-sightedness, do what you know you can do. Work for the Lord in the tasks he has given you to do. Do it joyfully. Steward the resources you receive from it. And, return the praise for these good gifts to the one who has provided them. The one whom we will all be seeing when our season comes to an end.
Written By: Tyler Short
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