Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

For Reading and Meditation:     Luke 12:13-21

Why is it that so many in our day and age are attracted to the notion of a God who is impersonal? New Age theories seem to be infiltrating all parts of society in almost every country of the world. I think there is a very subtle reason why men and women prefer to think of God as a power rather than as a Person. If God...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

Ever found yourself feeling frustrated because of the way in which wickedness seems to win over justice? Then you know something of how Solomon feels in the verses before us today. Every generation, throughout time, has had to face this problem. James Russell Lowell put it this way: Truth forever on the scaffold,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Have you noticed that whenever Solomon looks "above the sun" he gets the right perspective, but when he looks "beneath the sun" his blood pressure rises, along with his cynicism? We saw yesterday that when he looked away from the injustice he observed on earth to the day when all wrongs would be righted, he...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

In these verses we come face to face with the thoroughness of God. However ragged life may seem in a fallen world, the Creator knows no such imperfections. Everything He does is not only permanent, but complete: "nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it" (v. 14). Ever sent for something and found that...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

When God is in our lives, then His presence makes a world of difference. God gives us four things so that we might enjoy our life here on planet earth. First, He gives us the ability to be happy (v. 12). Happiness is a gift. Only God can give us the perspective on life that enables us to remain happy even when...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:11

The text before us today reads like a conundrum. God has set eternity in our hearts, yet we cannot understand what He has done. God has not only established a timetable by which everything is ordered, but He has also placed within our spirits a deep longing for eternity. Because of this, there is something in every one...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Wouldn';t it be wonderful if we knew how to react properly to all of life's events? To do the right thing at the wrong time is almost as bad as not doing right. "What time is it?" we often ask. In regard to life's events, how often we wish we knew! Solomon follows up his...

For Reading and Meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:1

Solomon turns his attention to the consideration of time. Who can define time? Longfellow asked, "What is time?", and then went on to say that although time could be measured, it could not be clearly defined. One of the best definitions of discipleship I have ever heard is: "Discipleship is what a person does with his time."

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:2-4a

Perhaps no better cross-section of life can be found anywhere than in these beautiful and poetic verses. Solomon unfolds for us the variety of life, all of which takes place under the providential hand of God. There are fourteen contrasts. (1) There is a time to be born and a time to die. No one can negotiate his or...

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. § There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. § The first man Adam became a living being. § The spirit of the sons of men … goes upward.While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. § With Christ,...