When we moved to Franklin, I voluntarily signed up for 360 house payments. Ouch. They come, like clockwork, once a month – welcome or not – and the end is nowhere in sight. I can let that get the best of me … or I can enjoy the home that we’ve been given. Whether I’m frustrated or happy – whether I’m ready or not – the payment is due June 1.
Wise old Solomon recorded it like this: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). I hope that I’m not oversimplifying it, but I think that this section of the book means, simply: “There is a time in life for everything, even house payments.”
The theme is illustrated in the verses which follow … “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted … a time to seek, and a time to lose …” Such a reality check can make us feel cynical, sardonic, or at least mildly depressed. If you’ve ever been a Charles Schulz fan, you may remember Charlie Brown once asking his little sister, “Why are you crying?” Sally’s humorous but all-too-relatable reply was: “I don’t know … I was jumping rope … suddenly it all seemed so futile!”
How are you doing, today, with what can feel at times like the “ho-hum” nature of it all?
I must admit to you that I have struggled to understand Ecclesiastes more than I’ve struggled to understand any other book of the Bible. I’ll be reading along, thinking that I’m tracking with everything I’m absorbing, only to hit a mental roadblock: “What in the world did I just read?” Not only do I find the book in places hard to understand, but I find it even harder to apply. It seems to describe my ailment, but I struggle – at least in the same verses – to see the cure.
But I’ve decided that that’s O.K. – not that I get to be the arbiter of such things. Ecclesiastes falls within the genre of what is called “wisdom literature.” It’s meant to communicate to us the general truth regarding our human experience. Taken as a whole, the book falls on my soul like a stern warning against trusting in the things around me for security. There is no true security to be found in any of the places where women and men are prone to look for it. P.S. There is only security in God. At least that’s my take on it.
During our short stint here on Planet Earth, our work will feel exhilarating at times … but the very same job will sometimes make us want to pull our hair out. So we can’t find security in our vocation. What’s more beautiful than a May afternoon? Well … some May days bring dark-gray clouds and destructive winds called “derecho.” (Can you tell that I flew out of Houston last week?) A great meal with friends will be a delight on many days, but – at least on occasion – even the blessings of good food and drink and fellowship may leave us feeling like: “Is this really all there is?” Such is the nature of life, here and now. Happiness comes and goes. It waxes and wanes. It’s here and it’s gone. The best of times are evasive at best.
Please don’t call me a buzzkill. I like to enjoy life as much as anybody else. I’m simply trying to communicate to you the reality check that the Scriptures sometimes are for me. So I must need a reality check. When it comes to the rose-colored glasses which tend to don my rose-colored cheeks, “All is vanity” is a bit of a shot across the bow. But at least it makes me think beyond the end of my rose-colored nose.
Life. It’s not all good, and it’s not all bad. “A time to weep, and a time to laugh.” But it definitely keeps moving. Maybe in ways that can seem a little monotonous at times, but it’s moving, nonetheless. We see a cyclical rhythm in this text, but I don’t think it’s meant to depress us. Because we know the rest of the story …
If we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I have been given – and are being given – the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8). Because this amazing gift is from the hand of our gracious God, we can respond to every season of life with some degree of courage and joy. We can find peace – albeit sometimes a strange peace – even in the mundane ebbs and flows of this season and that.
House payment, take note! You’re just a placeholder. You’re not the main thing. In fact, you’re nothing but a gentle reminder that I have a sturdy roof over my head … and scrumptious food on my table … and gracious friends to love and be loved by along my pilgrim way.
We need not fear a single date on the calendar, because the timing is right when it’s in God’s hands. In fact, the timing is always in God’s hands (Ephesians 1:11). I’m the one who needs to get on board with the truth. The good news of the gospel constantly reminds me that God’s timing – for everything – is so much better than mine. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son …” (Galatians 4:4). At the perfect moment in human history, Christ came, to live the life that I failed to live – and to die the death that I deserved. And His tomb is empty. Hallelujah!
“A time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
Friends, we’re in good hands. Excellent hands, in fact. They are nail-scarred, but very much alive. Not even Solomon could fully comprehend the enormity of such glorious good news! And it is ours, here and now.
Pastor Charles
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