Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (v11)
Some Thoughts…
Everything has its place in time. (even the final day of judgment – see Revelation 14:14-15) God has designated it to be so. Things and situations that appear horrific and mortifying like war, killing, and death…God makes beautiful somehow in the bigger picture of His story. Yet, what He has made beautiful is for me a burden if I will attempt to find its beauty on my own with my limited perspective. I am human; trapped in my time zone. And although God has created me in His image with eternal things buried deep inside me, I know that there has got to be something more than an endless cycle of history repeating itself and family after family falling apart…season coming and going corporations and kingdoms rising and falling…the cycle of insanity that we call life can drive me crazy.
But, I’m just too close to God’s artwork. His big picture is really, reallybig. It is so big that although in my heart I know God has made a beautiful work of art out of this planet’s history, I can’t see it. I’m too close; all I see are meaningless lines and shapes that seem to repeat themselves over and over and over. But if I could move back…way back …a God-sized step back, then I could see. From eternity’s side of time, it all makes perfect sense…more than logical, it’s beautiful. I see this crazy endless cycle of history seeming only to repeat itself…God sees it all from the beginning of light’s explosion into creation to the end of every nation, tribe and tongue standing before His throne.
God has done it all (v14), and I will pursue and worship Him…I’ll lay down my questions, at least for a moment, and worship Him.
A Prayer…
Father of all time, You stand outside of my limitations…and yet you step inside them to reveal Yourself to me. You are the eternal artist, storyteller, master craftsman…it all looks good to you – beautiful. Give me eternal eyes so I can catch a glimpse of your beauty today. Amen.