The arrival of spring each year reminds of the beautiful rhythm God has woven into life. Often seen as an antidote to the barrenness of winter, new life and beauty characterize this season of renewal. As the trees awaken from their sleep and the flowers bloom around us, God’s meticulous organization of time takes center stage. King Solomon captured our experience with the immortal words, “(God) has made everything appropriate in its time” (Ecc. 3:11).
Indeed.
Apart from God, time is nothing more than random chance that leads either to frustration or jubilation. With the Lord, however, everything in time has its place and purpose. God is not a victim of time to be pitied; He is the Author of time to be praised. The longer I live, the more convinced I become that the secret of life is learning to cooperate with God’s divine purpose for us throughout the varying seasons of life. Every event has its place, and every period has its value (Ecc. 3:1).
With descriptions that inspired the Byrds 1963 hit song, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” history’s wisest man lists 14 antitheses that prove God’s unique agenda for every season (Ecc. 3:2-8). Underneath it all is the reminder that the entirety of our human existence depends upon the Lord. The days of our birth and death are completely out of our hands (Ecc. 3:2a). God forms us in the womb (Psalm 139:13), determines the length of our lives (Psalm 13:16), and determines the day we die (Heb. 9:27). [Read more…]