Former Blackout Artist

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens: – Ecc. 3:1

Life doesn’t stay the same. We might want it to sometimes, but it doesn’t. There are seasons we’d love to hold onto forever, and there are others we’d erase if we could. Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that God has appointed a time for everything – a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot…The list goes on and on, and it covers the wide range of the human experience.

Theologically, this tells us something very important about God: He is sovereign over time. We don’t control the seasons of life – He does. We may plan, we may prepare, but ultimately, life unfolds under God’s hand. This can be both comforting and frustrating. Comforting, because it means nothing takes Him by surprise. And frustrating, because it means we don’t get to hold on to the moments we want.

Practically, we live this life every day. Maybe you’ve had a season where everything was good – your health was strong, relationships were sweet, finances were stable. You probably wanted to keep that season forever, right? Who wouldn’t! But then came another season – one of loss, or loneliness, or change that you didn’t ask for. Did you want to throw that one away?

My pastor friend recently took the week off to go visit his father. He was really looking forward to seeing him and spending time with him. But something he said really made me stop to think about how precious time really is. “At most, he probably has only 3-4 more birthdays to celebrate,” he said. “Maybe he’ll surprise me. But I wanna be there for however many he has left.”

That really put things in a different perspective for me. How much more meaningful might my time have been with my own parents had I thought about that before they passed away?

The truth is, both seasons – the ones we love and the ones we dislike – they form us. They shape our hearts. They teach us how to depend on God. They remind us that this world isn’t our permanent home. Ecclesiastes 3:11 goes on to say, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.” That’s key, isn’t it. Deep down, we long for permanence. We long for beauty that doesn’t fade, relationships that don’t end, joy that doesn’t slip through our fingers.

That longing points us to God Himself.

So considering the weightiness of the writer’s thoughts in Ecclesiastes 3, here’s the real test: Can you trust God with the season you are in right now? Whether it’s a time to laugh or a time to weep, a time to plant or a time to uproot, God has purposed it. Maybe you can’t see it yet. Maybe you won’t see it until eternity. But the promise is this:

He makes everything beautiful in His time.