Thursday, February 3, 2011

Ecclesiastes 3

5 comments:

Berry Girl said...

"He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end" (v11)

I love this - that eternity has been set in our hearts. Does anyone have extra notes on this verse? Does it mean that God is unfathomable, or that we will never be completely satisfied with what we do in this life because of our yearning for eternity?

Unknown said...

I LOVE this chapter, though I found verses 18-21 disturbing.

I guess the sum of this chapter for me is to live each day to the fullest taking the good with the bad, because what do you know, it may well be your last.

For the verse you questioned, my translation reads "God has given them a desire to know the future. He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing."

I guess in just an easy read over like that it speaks to me of how we have this innate reality that there is "something" more and we long for it to be fulfilled, and yet it is all a mystery to us. I am going to do a word study on that verse though now that you brought it up :)

Unknown said...

I liked this;

http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/17371/eVerseID/17371

Joan said...

I like this chapter too. Vs. 1-8 - timing is important. So glad that there is a time to plant and a time to harvest. We used to remind ourselves of that when it just rained and rained in September/October. But God says "a time to harvest" - but that might also be in spring!
The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept and appreciate God's perfect timing. The danger is to doubt or resent God's timing. This can lead to despair, rebellion or moving ahead without his advice. LAB.

vs.11 - God has "planted eternity in the human heart" LAB says this means that we can never be completely satisfied with earthly pleasures and pursuits. Because we are created in God's image, (1) we have a spiritual thirst, (2) we have eternal value, and (3) nothing but the eternal God can truly satisfy us. God has built in us a restless yearning for the kind of perfect world that can only be found in his perfect rule. He has given us a glimpse of the perfection of his creation. But it is only a glimpse, we cannot see into the future or comprehend everything. So we must trust God now and do his work on earth.

Chris said...

I took notice of vs. 14 this time... "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 men will revere him."
Strangely comforting. To know that everything continues to happen and God knows each part...

What makes me stop to think is the part where (esp. in the OT) God reveals the intended consequences of sin and then is stirred with compassion and mercy by the prayers and requests of His people. That, too, He already foreknew! His Immensity in time is so overwhelming to me.

Verse 11 always meant to me that as humans we are aware that this life on earth is incomplete and partial... that God's created us with an awareness that earth is just temporary.