Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 and Psalm 18:30
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Have you ever noticed how much we seem to complain about time? In certain situations, like when we have 3 minutes to make the 5-minute trek across the airport, we are begging for more time. On the flip side, the seconds don’t seem to go fast enough when we are waiting. Just ask the wife of a soldier who has been serving overseas.
Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 reminds us that every season of life is purposeful. We will face times of great difficulty and times of great joy. We will experience seasons of hard work and seasons of plenty. And if we’ll let Him, God wants to use each of these seasons to teach us something new about who He is and how much He loves us.
For example, I’m learning to embrace hard times instead of wishing they would disappear. Psalm 18:30 says that God “is a shield for all who take refuge in him.” We would not need a shield if God didn’t know there would be times for war, weeping, mourning and tearing down. God is not surprised by suffering; He is working through it.
We will never wrap our minds around what God has planned from the beginning to the end. But our attitude toward life changes when we learn to see good times and bad times as opportunities to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. As we learn to trust Him, we begin wholeheartedly enjoying the good times because we’re not worried about what’s coming next. And, we start to embrace the bad times knowing God is with us and that He will make everything beautiful in its time.
