#24. June 15, 2015
2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Ecclesiastes is what is called ”Wisdom Literature”, written by King Solomon in the opinion of most commentators. It is a genre of literature that addresses issues of good and evil in the world, issues of God’s peoples’ faith, and the issue of understanding God and His providence for His people and His world. Ecc. is written by one who has lived a full life but is coming to the end of it. Chapter three is in the context of what the author says that all of life is meaningless (Ecc. 1-2).
The next two paragraphs are a summary of Chs.1 and 2. “Everything is meaningless”. He asks this question: “What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?” This question we will want to ask ourselves. He moves to “wisdom is meaningless”, his conclusion: “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” He moves on to, “pleasures are meaningless” he “says to himself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” We may well ask that question for ourselves. He moves to, “wisdom and folly are meaningless, like the fool, the wise too must die!” He moves to, “Toil is meaningless”, he surmises: “All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest.”
At the end of all this negativity the writer brings us back to what is important and meaningful for God’s people: “ A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, (emphasis mine) but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Also, see his conclusion, Ecc. 12:13-14.
The above is an introduction to the book and the context for Chapter 3. “There is a time for everything”, God is the one who gives us time for everything, He orchestrates our lives but we make our own decisions. God is in control of all things but that is not obvious very often in our daily living, but when it is obvious God builds our faith. A “season for every activity” is as God’s timing. He directs it. As followers of Jesus we are in the Kingdom of God. He puts us in the place, the situation, and with the people He wants to impact in order to build His Kingdom on this earth. We need to broaden our view of the world and of God’s purposes! There are times, seasons, and activities to practice our faith during all of our life, building the Kingdom as followers of Jesus. Thanks be to God!
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Heavenhigh 