Ecclesiastes 3

The Explanation

There was once a very wise man. Some say he was a king, and that he had seen almost everything a person can see. Palaces. Gardens. Wars. Funerals. Weddings.

One day he sat down and started writing. Not a list of rules. A kind of song.

"For everything there is a season," he wrote, "and a time for every purpose under heaven."

Then he began counting on his fingers. There is a time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant a seed in the ground, and a time to pull the plant up again when it is finished. A time to cry until your eyes sting, and a time to laugh so hard your belly hurts. A time to be sad, and a time to dance.

He kept going. A time to break something down, and a time to build something up. A time to hold on tight to somebody, and a time to let go. A time to be quiet, and a time to speak.

Have you ever noticed that? That sometimes the best thing you can do is say nothing at all? And another time you have to open your mouth, even when your heart is thumping?

The wise man looked out at the world and he saw hard things too. He saw judges who were supposed to be fair, and they were not fair at all. He saw that people get tired from all their work, and then they die, and the dust of the ground covers them, just like it covers the animals. He did not hide that. He wrote it down honestly.

But in the middle of all his counting, he wrote one sentence that shines like a lamp: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts."

God has put something enormous inside every person. A little piece of forever.

What Does This Mean?

Think about a seed. If you dig it up on Monday to check on it, nothing happens. It needs its own time. You cannot rush it, and you cannot make it hurry.

That is what the wise man discovered about our whole lives. There is a time for everything, and we do not hold the clock. God does.

Sometimes that feels scary. You do not know what tomorrow brings. You cannot see the beginning or the end of God's big work. The wise man says so plainly: nobody can figure that out.

But here is the good part. The One holding the clock is not a stranger. He is God, and He makes things beautiful in their time. So the wise man says: then eat your bread, drink your water, be glad, do good. That is a gift from God, he says. A real present.

The Common Thread

That piece of forever in your heart is the reason nothing here quite fills you up. Not even the best birthday.

And God did something about it. When the time was exactly right, He sent His Son. Jesus came into a world full of crying and dying, and He walked right into the middle of it. There was a time when Jesus wept. There was a time when He died. And there was a time, three days later, when the grave was empty.

Jesus is the answer to the longing for forever that God tucked inside you.

For You

Today you can practise living inside God's time.

If it is a time to be quiet, be quiet. When your mum is on the phone, or when someone is sad and does not want words yet, just sit beside them.

If it is a time to speak, speak. Say sorry today, out loud, to whoever needs to hear it.

And do what the wise man said: enjoy your food tonight. Notice it. Say thank you to God for it, because it is a gift.

Talk About It

What is something you have to wait for right now? How does the waiting feel?

When is it a time to be quiet, and when is it a time to speak?

Praying Together

God, You hold all the times in Your hands. The happy ones and the sad ones. Thank You that You make things beautiful in Your time. Help me to trust You today, and to be glad. Amen.