JAN 24 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Memorise Ecclesiastes 3:11
"He hath made everything beautiful in his time…"

ARE ALL TIMES GOOD TIMES?

Let us give a more detailed look at the list in Ecclesiastes 3. As you run down the pairs of contrasts, you would notice that the order is not always in one way, in that it is always the ‘good’ time first, followed by the ‘bad’ time. At least in our human perspective, we would always associate a time to be born as a good thing, and the time to die a bad thing. Likewise we would see a time to kill as something bad, and a time to heal as something good. We would then expect the list to be given in an orderly fashion, where it is always the ‘good’ then the ‘bad’ time, or vice versa. However we realize that that is not the case, for the order is often mixed up, with seemingly no pattern as to which would come first. Do you wonder why this is the case?

We must realize, that what we perceive to be bad things, are not always bad in the sight of God. We may not enjoy the experiences of weeping, mourning, silence and hate, but nonetheless, they are all things which have been done beautiful, in God’s time. From our simple human understanding of things, we think that the best experiences are the ones that we enjoy, and make us feel happy and comfortable. However, we must realize that God does allow us to go through such trials and hardships for reasons known only to Him. There are times that people ask, "if God is a good God, then why does he allow war, killing, and even death"? We may not have a direct answer for such questions, but we can see clearly here, that such experiences in life are all covered under God’s perfect divine purposes. They are that which have been decreed and ordained by God, and who are we to question them? If it were up to us, we may think that it would be best if everyone would not have to die, that there would only be good health and no killing; that people will only embrace and laugh and dance. But that really might not be the best plan. God in His wisdom, allowed for this whole wide array of human experiences, because He knows that that is the very best. It is not for us to categorise them into ‘good’ and bad’ experiences, but we must with Solomon, realize that they are all made beautiful in God’s perfect time.

Thought: What we think to be good, may not always be good in the sight of God.
Prayer: Lord, help me to understand things from Your perspective, and in times that I do not understand, grant me the grace to humbly accept Thy will.