APR 25

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
Memorise Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He hath made everything beautiful in his time…”

This next segment begins with Solomon asking the same rhetorical question which he asked right at the beginning of the book – “What profit is there to a man in his labour?” He then proceeds to reiterate the observations that he had made in the previous two chapters concerning his own experiences in seeking after happiness and true meaning in life.

In v10, he speaks again of this travail which God hath given to the sons of men. From Ecclesiastes 1:13 we know that this is the desire within man to try to attain human wisdom and knowledge. Now, after observing the cycles of life, he has an answer – and that is, man can never fully understand or find out the works of God. God is the one who has ordained all things from the beginning to the end, and man can never understand it all. God is the only one who can know it all, and is sovereignly carrying out His perfect and beautiful plan amongst man. He is the one who has made everything, and they are all beautiful! He has also ‘set the world in their heart’, in the sense that He has placed in man this interest and curiosity about the world; to have a desire to know of not just this present physical world, but also about eternity. This is the meaning behind the word used for ‘world’. In other words, man has been granted this awareness of not just this present life, but also the life to come. Man has the innate knowledge that there is far more to life than this present, and that the only meaningful life can be found in knowing our creator and in living a life for Him.

Thus as we survey all of God’s works, we must acknowledge that all of God’s creation, and the intricacies and interactions within this world are indeed so vast that man can never find out the work that God has made from the beginning to the end.

Again, our only response needs to be one of humble submission to His perfect, divine wisdom. We cannot hope to explain why God allows things to happen in a certain way, but what we can do is to have faith in His wisdom, and know that the works which God wills from the very beginning to the end are all good and beautiful, arranged perfectly in His time!

Thought: What fraction of God’s works can I hope to understand?
Prayer: Lord, grant me the heart of humility that I may submit to Your perfect will in my life.