To Everything There Is a Season…

As we continue to feel the effects of the seasonal changes of Spring around us, I am drawn to words of wisdom we find among the Wisdom Literature of the scriptures. To everything there is a time and a season… So says the writer of Ecclesiastes. Every event of our lives from birth to death has potential purpose and meaning in this worldview, in this way of understanding God, and the world, and the realities of our lives. How does that strike you? Does it ring true for you? Have you come to a point in your life where you are able to agree with that view of God?

Having this view certainly helps us look at the events of our daily lives, especially the difficult ones, with new eyes. Rather than looking only at the “face value” of our immediate circumstances, we begin to look for the potential value that events and realities in our lives may hold. If we have come to a level of trust in God our creator that allows such a view for ourselves, we begin to look behind or past the immediate joy (or pain) we are experiencing to try to see what it may be that God can accomplish in our lives through these daily events and experiences.

Let’s look deeper at what draws the writer of Ecclesiastes to make such a bold statement that there is a time for everything, whether seemingly good or bad. The writer says, in chapter 3 verse 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.”  I love the language used here; “He has also set eternity in the human heart…” What a picture! As we allow ourselves to trust God with all of our life, we come to realize that we are eternal by nature. God, our loving creator, has made us eternal beings and he longs for us to experience the life he has made available to us!

I am coming to believe that one of the biggest obstacles to experiencing this life to the fullest is our lack of understanding of how God is able to work in our lives through every experience we go through. Is it from a lack of trust in God’s love and care for us? Or is it that we are simply unaware that He is able to bring good out of even the deepest darkness and the most difficult struggle?

For myself, I know that I am still on this learning journey. My first tendency is still not to look immediately for the good in a hardship, but rather to look for the quickest way out! Most times these “ways out” involve mostly my own efforts rather than a trusting reliance on God or on His people around me. When will I learn? What will it take for me to understand and trust how God works for good in my life? Ecclesiastes says that “no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” I find that true in my own life, and I find comfort in knowing that I’m not alone. We’re all on this journey of learning to trust God. Let’s continue to encourage one another along the way, reminding ourselves often that God is loving and God is faithful! Doing so will bring us growth and bring God glory! May others come to see God through our lives.

- Carl