Part 1: The Limits of Life Under the Sun
Day 1
'There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. '
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher opens this chapter with one of the most beautiful poems in all of scripture consisting of a list of 14 related seasons. The Teacher is reminding us that we're still living under the sun. We know there's a time for everything, but only God sees where each moment fits into the larger story of history. Your life offers one vantage point of times and seasons under the sun — like holding one piece of a puzzle that only God can see in its finished form. How does it make you feel to know you're only seeing one piece of a picture God can already see whole?
Action: Name the season you think you're in today, and bring your honest reaction (i.e. frustration, relief, confusion) to the God who exists above and beyond time itself.
Day 2
'What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. '
Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher has already observed that labor doesn't profit and pleasure doesn't satisfy. As his exploration turns to the concept of time, he adds three things he hasn't said yet. First, eternity is set in the human heart. You were built to want to see beyond today, but no one can fathom what God does from beginning to end. Next, God is in full control so whatever He does will endure forever with no need for editing. Finally, God will call the past into account as our time under the sun continues to pass by and be forgotten. Which of the three time observations is hardest for you to actually believe today?
Action: Name one place in your life right now where you're straining to see beyond today, one thing you're trying to control that isn't yours to hold, and one part of your past you assumed God had forgotten — and hand all three to him.
Day 3
'And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” '
Ecclesiastes 3:16-21
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher puts justice and death side by side as events in time that can’t be cleanly resolved under the sun. He can't prove the wicked will actually be judged, only that he believes that God will judge all things at some unspecified time. He also can't tangibly prove where a person's spirit goes after death. Both are unprovable from under the sun, yet both are matters under the sun that require faith. If God gave you no proof at all, only His word, would you still call that enough?
Action: Name one thing you're waiting to see proven before you'll trust God with it. Recognize that God works in His timing, not ours and trust Him with your situation today.
Day 4
'So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?'
Ecclesiastes 3:22
Watch this segment of this week’s Going Deeper podcast episode before continuing today’s devotional.
The Teacher lands on three ideas: (1) enjoy your work, (2) let that enjoyment be your portion, (3) because no one can see what happens after he's gone. Since our vantage point is severely limited under the sun, the Teacher calls us to enjoy what's right in front of us instead of straining for what we can't see. Are you living today for the portion in front of you, or still chasing a profit you can't actually see?
Action: Pick one piece of work today and do it purely for the enjoyment of it, not for what it earns you. Is this enough for you, or do you find yourself straining for something that may be beyond your reach?