Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15.
Anyone who knows me knows that I make all kinds of lists to manage my time. If I do not make a list for the day or the week or the month, then there is something wrong. Some people don’t seem to manage time at all. In today’s passage, Solomon continued his thought experiment to attempt to understand time as a gift from God.
Ecclesiastes 3 contains one of the most famous poems in the Bible. In a series of parallels, Solomon says that there is a time and a season for everything. Each of the parallels Solomon wrote covers major portions and activities of life. We also understand that God’s timing is perfect in all seasons of life. He is never surprised by any of the events that happen in our lives. The Teacher goes on to say that God has a larger view of time than we do. Concerning mankind, He says that God has put “eternity in their hearts” (Ecc. 3:11b). We human beings are the only creatures on earth that can even attempt to understand that there is something more to this life than our own existence. We also see that time is not on our side, either. This portion of Solomon’s thought experiment reminds us that we should attempt to keep an eternal perspective as we face the different seasons of life.
We’ve often express incredulousness at how someone who does not have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ face the seasons of life and that includes the use and lack of time that we all face. Only through a relationship with God through Christ can we have the proper perspective on time.
Mark Riser - Apologist 