After this poem, we’re treated to an intriguing verse. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says,
“He has made all the pieces beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet in order that he cannot discover what God has done from the start to the top.”
Many interpret this as if it’s an altogether positive statement, form of a celebration of every season. I feel the Quester is doing something different there.
He tells us there may be order on this planet, but it surely just isn’t an order we will easily perceive. Though we predict we will predict the seasons, many things are outside our control. Yes, I’m confident that we are going to get a little bit of snow in January and that the rainy season is within the spring. But nothing prepared me for a flooded crawlspace at Christmas when the temperature shot as much as 70 degrees (in Southwest Missouri) and we had a downpour of rain. We’re not in charge of the seasons.
And this bit about putting eternity in our hearts doesn’t mean we’re eager for eternity (though that’s actually true). Rather, it signifies that God has made us meaning-makers. And that’s frustrating in such an unpredictable world. Everything is gorgeous in its time, but we aren’t smart enough to know what time it’s. It’s like what Andy Bernard said in The Office: “I wish we could know we were living in the nice times after we were living in them.”
Ecclesiastes is telling us that we’re all in a selected season now. It is a time fitting for something. Do you realize what it’s? Do you realize methods to put it to use for the glory of God? Probably only a little bit. It might be confusing because some parts of your life are given to weeping and others to laughter.
What are we to do with this tension? Ecclesiastes offers us an easy answer: benefit from the moment. Rather than becoming paralyzed by the mysteries of life, we’re called to embrace each moment as a present from God. Be joyful, do good, and find pleasure within the work and experience you’ve been given. Life is fleeting, seasons change, but God is everlasting and never changes. Because of this, we will entrust ourselves to Him and live fully.
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