A TIME FOR?...........................

A TIME FOR?..........

Ecclesiastes 3:1

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"

What shall this day hold? I do not know. What circumstance awaits me later in the day? I do not know. What trial shall I face in my path today that will attempt to stretch my faith and make me question where I stand? I do not know. What response shall transmit from me today when someone or something requires from me an answer? I do not know. Will I respond in the flesh or in the spirit today when encountering unexpected circumstances? I do not know. Am I living today expecting to face something I have never been challenged with? I hope so.

Well, if you are like me, you probably forget from time to time that we are promised that we will face all sorts of things in this lifetime. The writer of Ecclesiastes warns those he is writing to that there is a place for all sorts of things under the heaven. In verses 2-8 of chapter three we are told there is a time for laughter, sadness, love, hate, peace, war, loudness, quietness, killing, healing, etc.... These are only a few of the many things that we will face in our lifetime. What about: losing your home, losing a family memeber, losing a friend, losing your job, conflict with friends, loneliness, bitterness, car accident, losing everything that you hold dearest to your heart. Maybe you have experienced some of these things are you know people who have.

We never know what may come knocking on our door of life any given day. These things are real. These things reveal to us if we are being real. If we are being real in our relationship with God. If all the verses we memorized and hymns we sing really do get beyond the cloud of our brain and get to the core of our heart. There are three things I would like to share from Ecclesiastes chapter three:

The first thing I would like to share is God's Promise.(Ecclesiastes 3:1) We are told that we will face all sorts of things while living in this temporary dwelling place. We are going to experience all sorts of emotions and circumstances that will bless us as well as sometime challenge us to our very core. We cannot control what we may encounter, but we do have a part in how we respond to those unexpected encounters.

The second thing I would like to share is God's Precious Handiwork.(Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He hath made every thing beautiful in His time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. The one question that eats at man each day is the question WHY? God, why did that have to happen to me? God, why did they have to endure that? God, why are you making me wait so long for an answer? God, why can't you just write on the wall your purpose and will for me? God, why am I still single? God, why did you take them so soon to be with you? The question of WHY lurks in my mind and heart each day. I am humbly reminded that God's Ways and Thoughts are much higher and greater than mine. I am humbly reminded that we were not created to know and understand all that God does, but to TRUST! Wow! That is so tough. We must take comfort in the fact that all that God allows, all that we have to endure, all that others around us endure; is part of His plan. Even if that means not having a clue of WHY. Of course, this is the toughest thing to acknowledge when you are the one having to go through whatever circumstance you are facing that crushes you.

The third thing I would like to share is God's Picture.(Ecclesiates 3:14, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." I am still trying to swallow this thought again. The fact that the whole big picture of life is not about me, but it is ALLLLLLLLL ABOUTTTTTTT HIMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! The things that we experience in life are not there to turn us away from Him, but towards Him! God, how can something so tragic and heartbreaking turn me or them toward you? God, don't you think that they would follow you if you didn't put them through something so hurtful? God, I am trying to walk faithfully and serve you, but you keeping allowing these hard things to come into my life. Job, Job, Job Job!!! Job 2:10b, "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." What in the world!!! Remember this is a man speaking who has just lost his ten children, his livestock, etc...except for his wife. Wow!!

SUMMARY: So, we are told that we should expect to face all sorts of challenges and blessings in our life. We have no idea when they will arise from day to day. So that requires TRUST. We are told that God has made it that we are not to know His work from beginning to end. Things are going to happen and we are not going to always have an answer for the WHY. We are also told that the things that God doeth, He does them not to turn us from Him but towards Him, so that men would acknowledge Him with a reverant, respectful perspective. So, we know that there is a time that we will face things that are going to challenge us to the deepest part of our being. We cannot control time or what time brings, but we know the God who does.

Today, may you be challenged as I am, to pray(pour yourself out to God), practice,(live out your faith), and pursue(seek God with all your mind, soul, heart). For today could be your day to face something under the heaven that you have never encountered before. GOD IS NEAR! GOD IS ALL POWERFUL! GOD IS OUR STRENGTH! GOD IS CONSTANT! GOD IS IN CONTROL! GOD IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED HIM TO BE AND MORE WHEN FACED WITH WHATEVER COMES YOUR WAY....HE IS NEVER CAUGHT OFF GUARD.