July 8th, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

TURN, TURN, TURN

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Opening Prayer

Mighty God, I praise You for the hope that sustains, the grace that binds and for the Savior who reigns.

Read ECCLESIASTES 3:1–22

[1] There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: [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 from embracing, [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 do workers gain from their toil? [10] I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. [11] He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. [12] I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. [13] That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their 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 people will fear him. [15] Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. [16] And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment-wickedness was there, in the place of justice-wickedness was there. [17] I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.” [18] I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. [19] Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. [20] All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. [21] Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” [22] So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“We are to be the billboards of the Gospel in the extraordinary ordinariness of our daily lives” (Albert Wolters).

Think Further

Chapter breaks—imposed on the text by later translators—are sometimes less than helpful. This is one of those times, because the poetry of chapter 3, verses 1–8 is the answer to the problem posed in chapter 2. Just as Paul’s heart-cry in Romans 7 is magnificently answered in the freedom of Romans 8, so here the Teacher’s “chasing after the wind” (2:26) finds joyous resolution in a life lived in the rhythms of God (3:1–8).

 

This remarkable poem celebrates the balance and beauty of the created world and the givenness of birth and death, the seasons of life and human emotions. Deep experiences here are valued for their place in our lives, for the richness they add to our journey. Behind the poetry is an implicit statement of faith: it is God who has given us these joys. There is rest to be found in the rhythms of God’s world. We can’t see the whole picture (11), but we can trust God for it (14) and accept each moment (13). The key to satisfaction is trust, and trust can only come from knowing that the world is made and ordered by a God we can rely on. It would be centuries before human scientific endeavor would catch up with the simple wisdom of these words, recognizing that the world could be explored because it was made to be ordered, not chaotic.

 

Buried in this poetry is one of the most powerful and life-changing sentences in the whole of Scripture: “He has also set eternity in the human heart” (11). We search because God has made us searchers. We are restless because we know we are made for so much more. We reach for the stars because, deep inside, we know who made them.

Apply

What time is it for you? Does belief in God’s order free you to enjoy life? Why, or why not?

Closing prayer

Open my eyes to Your wonder, O God. Lead me in all Your good paths.

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