MAKING SENSE OF LIFE’S SEASONS Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Life is constantly changing whether we want it to or not. One day you can have this stable job and the next day you don’t—that’s life. One year you are living in Fort Smith, Arkansas and the next you are in Jacksonville, Texas—that’s life. One day you can be with your loved one and the next their gone—that’s life. And at times we are not ready for these changes in life, yet they come regardless. If we are going to make it in this life we have to learn how to make sense of and how to live in and through the seasons of life.
Here’s the first principle.
UNDERSTAND GOD IS AT WORK IN THE SEASONS OF LIFE
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
In v. 1 Solomon tells us something very important about life’s seasons. He makes the point in this verse that God is at work in and through them. The word translated season refers to an appointed time. Solomon’s point here is that there is a God-appointed time for everything. In other words, God is at work in His world. Solomon wants us to understand that nothing happens by chance or accident—God is at work in and through the circumstances, events and seasons of life. They are appointed by Him.
When life stinks and our circumstances are seemingly tragic, we should rest in the fact that God is on the throne, that He is good, in control and that He loves us and is accomplishing His perfect purposes in and through us. Though we don’t understand the ins and outs of what God is up to in our life, God does and is calling for us to trust in Him.
EXPECT CHANGE IN THE SEASONS OF LIFE
Not only are the seasons of life appointed, but they are also constantly changing so we need to prepare for these changes in life. In vv. 2-8 Solomon gives a wide scope of human experience on earth.
In these verses he shares with us all kinds of extremes when it comes to the experiences of life—both positive and negative. The reason he does this is because he wants us to realize that life is constantly changing and is filled with ups and downs—highs and lows. Solomon says,
(There is) a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
ACCEPT LIMITATIONS IN THE SEASONS OF LIFE
Look at vv. 9-11,
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
So we have talked about how the seasons of life are appointed and how they are changing and about the fact that we need to understand that they are appointed and prepare for that change. In vv. 9-11, Solomon says that we need to accept the fact that there are limitations upon us. The reason why is because though God has put eternity in our hearts, we time on our hands.
God has placed within each and every one of us a hunger to know what tomorrow holds and a desire to understand. But though this is the case—though we have eternity in our hearts—though we have this desire to know what tomorrow holds and to understand how the pieces of life fit together, we have time on our hands.
The life that we live on earth is so brief that we can’t come close to seeing the beginning from the end like God can, which leads us to Solomon’s question in v. 9 . “What gain has the worker?” In other words, “What are we who are limited by time supposed to do?”
He goes on to answer this question in vv. 12-15
First we are to…
• ENJOY OUR APPOINTED SEASON
Though we don’t understand the ins and outs of our season of life, Solomon says here in vv. 12-13 that we are to find enjoyment in our appointed season of life.
12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
Because the seasons of life are appointed by God—because God at work in and through them, we should in fact look for reasons to enjoy the season of life we are in. One thing that Solomon wants is for us to not let life pass us by and miss the opportunities that God has for us today. If all of life is appointed by God—if he is in control and has you where you are for a reason, doesn’t it make sense for us to stop and focus on what’s going on in our world right now—today and learn to enjoy and delight in the place God has us?
Second we are to…
• GET IN STEP WITH GOD
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
In these vv. Solomon explains that God is at work in human history and has a perfect plan that cannot be stopped. There is this rythym to life and God sets that rythym and what we are to do in response is to get in step with Him.
If what God does cannot be altered—if His plan, even though it is beyond us, cannot be changed then doesn’t it make sense that if we try and live our lives apart from Him that life will not get better for us, but much worse? That’s Solomon’s point!
Solomon says, “Don’t fight with God—follow Him. Don’t try and carve out your own existence—get in step with His." Live in harmony with Him.
