Ecclesiastes 3 -- Maybe Not Giving Up, But Something Else

“Solomon affirmed that God is at work in our individual lives, seeking to accomplish His will,” in these verses, my commentary said.  “All of these events come from God, and they are good in their time.  The inference is plain:  if we cooperate with God’s timing, life will not be meaningless.”

I have always been a finisher.  I like to see projects completed.  I remember reading this before and not liking these parts:  “ … a time to pull up plants … a time to destroy … a time to throw away stones … a time to stop looking for something … a time to throw things away…”

At that time, I was thinking that all these implied giving up, and giving up equaled losing.  But that’s not the case always.  Sometimes there are old buildings that are best torn down and replaced – like what the bank did, improving our main street.  Sometimes we hang on to “the way we’ve always done it” when a new way might work much better.  Sometimes our desire to maintain the status quo gets in the way of what God wants to do now.

Last week we had water damage in the church library and needed to move shelves and shelves of books out of harm’s way.  I saw one very thin book printed probably in the 1960’s on how to enhance the “cradle roll department” at a church.  I imagine that no one has looked at that book since the 1960’s.  Also, society has so changed since that time that I wondered why it hadn’t been thrown away.  There were many like that.

The “time to stop looking for something” really got to me.  It sounded like giving up on someone.  But then, god seemed to say, “I never give up on the them.  But sometimes you need to rest from the hunt.”

Father, I admit that as I saw those “there is a time…” verses, I thought, “Oh, boy.  Here it comes again.”  But I thank You for showing me something new in them that I needed to hear.  Please develop in me what You started this morning.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford