Really? Everything Beautiful? - Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

You’ve ever been in a sticky situation and narrowed it down to the wrong place, wrong time? Or someone criticizing you for sleeping in too late with early bird gets the worm? How about when you start a weight loss journey and when hitting a plateau, you remind yourself that Rome wasn’t built in a day? We can never forget the infamous right person, wrong time. There’s just something about us and time. There’s just something about God and time. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we wrestle with the concept that “God has made everything beautiful in its time…” 

We can all look back and take inventory of our lives and find a plethora of things that weren’t beautiful. Maybe what you’re going through right now at this very moment isn’t the slightest bit attractive. This is not an attempt to explain tragedy, pain, and confusion in our lives. This is an attempt to try and find beauty in our season of life. Afterall, this is the notorious “there’s a season for everything” chapter. 

Let’s finish verse 11 before jumping around everywhere. “… Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” We are finite beings with eternity in our hearts but no knowledge of what eternity exactly is. No wonder some seasons seem like they’ll never end. A season doesn’t last forever, only God does. That’s how we can have a list of contrasting seasons throughout verses 2-8. The person experiencing sadness will experience joy. The person full of food will become hungry. The rested person will get tired. The lonely person will be comforted. The person who strayed away from God will come back to Him. 

“My days are like a shadow that lengthens, and I will wither away like grass. But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations (Psalms 102:11-12).” 

We must focus on God and the reason for the season. Don’t worry about what's beyond the season, focus on what is happening right now. That is the gift; that is the freedom of not being God and knowing all things. “I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor – it is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13).” 

The positive seasons are pretty self-explanatory. We enjoy the fruit of our labor. The freedom from being enslaved. The sun shines on our face as the birds sing sweet songs. The mountain top is abundant with fresh air as you get to reflect on the mountain you’ve just climbed. Enjoy it. Don’t take it for granted. But, it will not last forever. You cannot extend this season longer than God intended. A wise friend of mine once said, “Too much sunshine causes deserts.” Solomon tried to make his life all about wisdom, pleasure, and work previously mentioned in the last two chapters. And where did that lead? Vanity. Meaningless. Smoke. Some of us are still responding to the trauma we’ve endured by never being near any possible threats. Some just don’t want to face the reality of having to go back down the mountain again. Even some of us are scared to death that we won’t have the strength to climb back up. This is how we make the beauty of the mountain top the vanity of vanities. Whatever is tempting you with not wanting to change seasons, God is with you, and He is for you. He knows what you can and cannot handle. He designed this plan ever since the foundations of the earth. When you can’t, the Holy Spirit can. God’s grace will carry you through it all. Jesus has gone through every human temptation to empathize with our weakness. You just have to have faith, and trust God. 

What about the bad seasons? Solomon alludes to an idea in verse 18, “Concerning the conditions of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” When we are met with adversity, we can resort back to animals. Situations that can’t be replicated on a mountain top. It reminds me of God talking to Cain as his offering was rejected and Abel’s was accepted. “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (Genesis 4:7).” Not only is it tempting to sin during the bad seasons of life trying to cope with it all, but it will result in being devoured by that beast, eventually becoming the beast. There is a purification in our hearts during these seasons that we need to embrace, because without it we won’t be able to climb the next mountain. God cares about our development so much. “Be the best you?” God is molding you into your best self. You are not being punished. You are not abandoned. You are not forgotten. God wants to clean you. He wants to come to the end of yourself. He wants to prepare you for the next mountain top. He needs you to depend on Him, because in our own strength, we can do nothing. If He is your Provider, you need a deficit that needs provision. If He is Your Healer, you need to be sick. If He fights for you, you have to be in a battle. If He is your Redeemer, you must fall. If you want God to build you up, the old building must fall. You are not going through something just to go through something. God will show you the beauty of this season in time. It may be the season itself, or things presented in it, but it also may be how God came through for you in the season. We’re praying for you, and please pray for us. In Jesus name, amen.