God's Time
God’s Time
A
friend from OT school gave me this garden rock as we graduated about fourteen
years ago. It used to sit outside on our patios in San Diego and on Guam, but
since moving to Portland it has found its rest inside near a chair where I pray
and read. I just took a moment now to read the 3rd chapter of
Ecclesiastes, and while it rang familiar, I would not have remembered all of it
on my own. However, I think it most appropriate to end with it. Where it has
been first on these essays, now, may God’s Word be last. This season of essays closes
into silence as fall colors here in Oregon, and in much of the country, glow
red, yellow, evergreen, and orange - God’s highlights of change halo everything
all around. I can think of no better words with which to end.
My
only last personal prayer goes with affection and thanksgiving for each of you
as you have spent time reading these essays. Thank you! May God’s love, grace,
mercy, and peace go ahead of each of you, with each of you, and behind each of
you in every season of life. Amen. Amen. Amen...
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
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 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.
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.
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.
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—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.”
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?”
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?”Amen
…AMDG