Hearing The Message Of Ecclesiastes--Ecclesiastes 3:11

Day 10

I’m getting the sense, now, the more that I pick my way through Ecclesiastes, that Solomon/Qoheleth will write something wise, but sort of depressing, like Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, (even though it’s a toe-tapping pop song)where there is an appointed time for everything–a time to give birth, a time to die,  a time to plant, a time to uproot, etc., then, just as I’m about to throw my hands up, he will follow up with something happier and peppier like Ecclesiastes 3:11.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Two big thoughts here–but at least for me–not tinged with too much sadness and futility.

The first big thought is what Karen and I pray every day–we know God has a plan for us and will work everything out in His timing.

Trying to figure out what is going on with her tumor diagnosis and what if this happens and what if that happens is trying to run down the future and capture it.

And that’s not our domain.  That’s His.

Christopher J.H. Wright likens God’s time in Hearing the Message of Ecclesiastes:  Questioning Faith in a Baffling World, as described in verse 11,  as a big, beautiful tapestry:

“Time is like a great, big, beautiful tapestry telling a wonderful story, spread across yards and yards of the wall of some great mansion.  Everything in the tapestry of time is beautiful in its own place in the overall picture and the unfolding story…Because we can see part of that beauty, in whatever part of the tapestry of time we ourselves happen to live, we ultimately suspect that there must be a whole tapestry–a wall stretching out on either side or a whole room in front or behind the tapestry.  The bit of the picture we can see is wonderful in itself, but it points to something bigger and greater, some real-life reality that the tapestry is part of, something that contains the tapestry but is not contained within it.”

Yesterday, we attended a wedding in Greer, SC between two young people that met on the beach in front of our condo 3 years ago, and I asked one of the bridesmaids if she would like the garden party motif (the wedding was in the sumptuous backyard garden of her grandparents) for her wedding (whenever that may be).

Not surprisingly, because what bride wants to copy their friend’s wedding, but surprisingly enough, she said, “Nope.  I want to have my wedding at the Biltmore in the tapestry room.”

Her Dad rolled his eyes, and said, “Great.  Now I have to work another 15 years.” 🙂

And now here is Ecclesiastes 3:11, the very next day, being described as a tapestry.

I never question God’s timing anymore.

The whole wedding we were celebrating was a testament to God’s perfect timing–all of it meticulously planned out in advance by Him.

David Platt writes in Trusting God’s Timing:

“We can trust in the God who sees all time, and sees our circumstances in the context of all of eternity, which leads to the next phrase. “He has put eternity into man’s heart.” What a picture, that God has put in all of us a sense that this world is not all there is, that there is more beyond what we see, both in the past and in the present, that lasts forever.”

One of the interesting points the father-of-the-bride made in his (maybe overlong) speech to the newlyweds at the reception was that the front windshield is a lot bigger than the rear-view mirror.

We are meant to keep our eyes forward.

Like Christopher Wright described–we can only see what is immediately around us in our PART of the tapestry.

Only if I step back and look at the whole hall (like I’ve done at our visit to the Biltmore), do I realize that my little piece of life is just part of one larger tapestry that is among MANY large tapestries.

Which is the second big thought in verse 11–God has made us with a sense of eternity.

I know that I’m just part of something much bigger, even though I’m at a loss to explain what that something bigger is.

Dan Lioy explains In The Divine Sabotage:

“The verse states that God has “set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end”.  God has placed within people an awareness of “the timeless”, namely, a “sense of duration”. Yet, He also prevents people “from understanding what [He] is about in all the key undertakings of life”. This is a “case of divine sabotage” in which humanity’s efforts to look beyond the present—especially to understand the past and probe into the future—are subverted by numerous heavenly-imposed limitations.”

Three years ago, the young couple we celebrated yesterday met on the beach around my beach chair in front of my condo.

Two years ago, Karen and I married after we reconnected through the efforts of this daily reflection.

I trust God’s perfect timing in whatever season I’m in.

I muck things up when I don’t.  🙂

Lord, in our moments of doubt and uncertainty, help us to remember that Your timing is perfect.  May the light of Your love dispel the shadows and shine a light on our path.

Lord, remind us that when we are tempted to despair over the uncertain future, that our fulfillment comes from seeking You, the source of all that is good and everlasting.

Amen.