THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE UNDER HEAVEN

 The Source

As I suspect we all do, I occasionally fall back to my "era" and listen to the music of my times, folk songs mostly. This morning as I opened YouTube, a song by Judy Collins and Peter Seeger from the 1960s appeared. Oops, you weren't supposed to know my "era." The song was "Turn, Turn, Turn." The lyrics are from Ecclesiastes 3 in the Old Testament of the Bible. 

This Book was written by King Solomon, a king that had every thing under the sun! I've read it a couple of times and it is an often quoted Scripture reference. But to be honest, I've often thought King Solomon was hypocritical and cynical. He had hundreds of wives, concubines, horses and countless riches, some even in violation of God's instructions. Nevertheless, he asked for wisdom and got it, evidenced by writing this Book of the Bible and many of its Psalms. Paradoxical to say the least.

Anyway, as I began to listen to the song, my eyes filled with tears. God's truth does that to me sometimes. The problem was I couldn't figure out why, that is until I read Ecclesiastes 3. You may know verse one: "To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven."

The Application for Today

But wait. This is from the Old Testament (Covenant). The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament (Covenant) says the Old Covenant was fulfilled and replaced by Christ. Works were replaced by faith (trust in God) working through love, being like Jesus actually. So, how could the Book of Ecclesiastes have relevance now?

One of the reasons is in Acts 17:26-28 of the New Testament, which says that God has determined our pre-appointed times and boundaries of our dwellings so we can find Him. Not physically, of course, but spiritually. The old is still new! It is not so much about what we believe or don't believe, but about what God has said.

Is the Bible Really True?

In my life I have doubted it many times. A pastor took me to his church early in my life, and I attended youth groups in my high school years (there were cute girls there!)  But after that time I lived as I wanted to live, mostly to protect myself from others and find what I thought was success. Only when I had failed at most things of life, at age 45, did I begin to learn a little about what Jesus had done for mankind, maybe even for me! A couple of steps forward and one back has been the "modus operandi" since then.

The biggest problem I faced was that my analytical mind couldn't believe all the Scriptures. My experiences of life were mostly negative and I just couldn't believe what the Bible said was the truth for me. After all, wasn't the Bible just a collection of men's opinions? I didn't realize, however, many people have determined to prove the Bible was not true, and learned the contrary in the process. So, I mostly pretended to believe for years. Actually, I'm not sure I still don't pretend some days!

What Do We Do?

So, are there really times and purposes under Heaven? I've always looked forward to some times and purposes I thought God had for me, dreams I guess some would call them. The older I became, the more unlikely many of them became. In studying chapter 11 of the Book of Hebrews this morning, I realized I was not alone. This chapter is about the heroes of faith from the beginning of time. It is about what they did by faith. Near the end of the chapter, however, the writer talks of the suffering of early believers and that none of them, including the heroes of faith, experienced all the results of their faith (God's promises) here on earth! Their faith was the demonstration of their believing God to do what He promised, even when the promises weren't fulfilled! This is the challenge for me and you!

WHAT HAS GOD SAID? Do we really have a time and a purpose? He is infinite; we are the finite. The clay doesn't tell the potter how to shape it. Our work is to shut out the voices of the world and learn to trust His written Word. Then, and only then, can we expect the Holy Spirit to tell us what to do and where to go, when! First, we have to believe in Him!