Humans have an innate tendency to search for a reason for everything that happens in life. The Preacher began with a search for meaning in wisdom, pleasure, and possessions. In the end he discovered that we should enjoy the life that God has given us.
In chapter three, the Preacher began describing various seasons of life. The title of the sermon was “A Season For Everything.” Now, we will see there is “A Reason For Everything” as he begins to analyze those thoughts.
Is it possible to be joyful through all of these seasons of life?
Before we read it, let’s ask the Lord for his help in understanding it.
Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 ESV
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
Maybe you feel God is distant from you. Is God so mysterious to you that you feel it’s hopeless to even try to understand him? Or maybe you are waiting for God to show himself to you in a personal way. Who wouldn’t want to know God in a deeper, more personal way?
The fact of the matter is that we don’t decide when and how God reveals himself or how much of his wisdom we receive. Frankly, man is incapable of knowing God and enjoying him forever apart from his sovereign will to grant us the privilege. And what we see here in this passage, and elsewhere in Scripture, is that until you are filled with a fear of God’s wisdom and power you cannot know him as your God.
We might state the Preacher’s main point like this:
Until you fear God’s power you cannot know his love.
1. Man’s Inability (9-11)
2. Man’s Responsibility (12-13)
3. God’s Superiority (14-15)
1. Man’s Inability (9-11)
Man is incapable of knowing what God has done in eternity.
In this passage, the Preacher begins to provide us with a much grander view of God than he has done previously. God is the One sovereignly bringing these seasons about (2-8), and he determines their length.
Ecclesiastes 3:9 ESV
What gain has the worker from his toil?
C.f. 1:3 which implies the answer “no”. Man gains nothing from all his toil. Everyone experiences the same seasons. No one is exempt from hardship. No one escapes pain or death.
Not only does each pair in the poem contrast, they actually cancel each other out so nothing ever really changes despite constant motion.
Ecclesiastes 3:10 ESV
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
The Preacher has considered everything God has given man to do. “Seen” may also imply the Preacher’s own experience of various seasons.
This is the business that God gives. God has given him a heart that is perpetually discontent. Although it might appear like the Preacher is about to suggest the vanity of this business that God has given to us to be busy with, he further develops our view of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Does this mean there is something beautiful about death, killing, weeping, mourning, hatred, and war (2-4, 8)? Or is the Preacher suggesting that those things eventually give way to what is beautiful?
Although the latter thought might be easier to grasp, it does seem to me that he is suggesting a beauty about things running their intended course. And, if God is indeed sovereign, then all things run their course according to his perfect timing.
An old man celebrates his 100th birthday on the same day that a child dies in infancy.
We see these kinds of opposites occur all the time don’t we? On the one hand we rejoice, and on the other hand we mourn.
A friend of mine from seminary, who is now a pastor, had the experience of going to the hospital to celebrate the arrival of a couple’s first child. Then, a few hours later, the couple called him in tears because the child’s grandfather died in a car accident after just visiting his grandchild.
How do we cope with such tragic circumstances? We naturally question the timing of such things. But, if our theology is correct, we know that God numbers the days of everyone, including the stillborn.
So how is that beautiful? Or maybe we should ask: What is beauty? Can it be defined in any ultimate sense? Isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder? Isn’t beauty subjective, entirely up to each individual to define?
“Beautiful” is repeated in 5:18 and translated with “fitting”. It has the sense of being appropriate (but maybe that’s a bit too dry).
The Preacher is not suggesting that everything that happens in your life, no matter how tragic, is something you should appreciate and accept as having some intrinsic beauty. If we are reading this verse in that way, we’ve either minimized what was mentioned in the poem earlier, or we’ve made the term “beauty” void of any emotional value.
There is something powerful about recognizing our utter dependence upon God’s sovereign will.
And that begins with an acceptance of our inability, which is what he makes plain in the second half of v.11.
He has placed eternity in man’s heart but kept his own actions – past and future – hidden.
We search for meaning in life because we are not satisfied with a purposeless existence. No one lives in a manner that is entirely consistent with a purely scientific outlook upon life. Man is not content with purely scientific answers. Telling me how something works doesn’t satisfy my desire to know why it works.
The New Bible Commentary 2:24–3:22 The Alternative to Pessimism
Human beings have a capacity for ‘eternal’ things, something that transcends the immediate situation.
The human mind naturally begins to ask questions such as:
What/Who sets everything in motion? Where is history heading?
These are the question every mind ponders. But, in the end, we are still in the dark. We cannot know all the answers our heart longs to understand.
Although man has been given a perspective that includes thoughts of eternity (past and future), he remains clueless. His lack of understanding feeds his discontentment.
Derek Kidner points out:
The Message of Ecclesiastes: A Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance The Tyranny of Time (Ecclesiastes 3:1–15)
This incomprehensibility is dismaying for the thoughtful secularist, but not for the believer. Both can take refuge in making the most of life as it is, but the man of no faith is doing it in the void.
The question is: Does he know it? And will he admit it?
God has given every season and at its proper time it has a purpose even though we are often left in the dark.
› So, in light of that, what is…
2. Man’s Responsibility (12-13)
Man should enjoy the life God has given him. Just as every season comes from God so does our ability to enjoy our toil.
Ecclesiastes 3:12 ESV
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
The best approach to life is to be joyful and do good.
Enjoy life! He’s already said this:
Ecclesiastes 2:24 ESV
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,
Do good. That’s our responsibility in a nutshell. We are called to walk in obedience to God. And the Bible makes clear that doing so is the most rewarding way to live.
Ecclesiastes 3:13 ESV
also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
Is God’s gift to man enjoying his toil or eating and drinking?
It seems to be the Preacher’s point to suggest that all of our experiences in life are a gift from God. His point is that we cannot enjoy life if we are confused about who gave it. We will continue chasing after the wind, searching for answers in science or worldly philosophy.
Doesn’t the fact that we are frequently frustrated give us some reason to pause and consider that our will might be at odds with our Maker’s will for us?
John Calvin speaks of how our discontentment leads us to the Lord.
Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Without Knowledge of Self There Is No Knowledge of God
Each of us must, then, be so stung by the consciousness of his own unhappiness as to attain at least some knowledge of God. Thus, from the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and—what is more—depravity and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord alone.
WSC Q.39 What duty does God require of man? A: The duty which God requires of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
First, we find that Christ alone was capable of knowing exactly what God had done in eternity past. He is the only human able to claim he has always been. The Son of God, in his divine nature, has always existed. He was fully aware that there would be a proper time for his death (Gal. 4:4-5).
When Jesus began his ministry he declared:
Mark 1:15 ESV
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Second, we find that Christ alone was capable of perfectly completing God’s will. He was the only human capable of accomplishing the duty God required of man.
These truths free us to enjoy life in the present! We can become far too focused on the future so that the present has little significance. We minimize concerns about the culture or the environment with statements like, “It’s all going to burn anyways…”
The Preacher wants to challenge us to consider the way we presently live and think. If we are constantly speaking pessimistically about the present, as if to suggest it has no value, our witness will be minimized.
In our attempt to minimize concerns about the present, we end up minimizing our witness in the present.
If we could take our love for possessions and turn it into a love for God we would be well satisfied.
1 Timothy 6:17–18 ESV
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
What we long for is more of God. Possessions will never satisfy that longing. But, when that longing has been satisfied by faith in Christ, we can become generous with our resources and committed to obedience.
We long to know and experience God’s love for us. And the Preacher responds in two ways to that desire:
1. In order to know God’s love for you, you must enjoy the gifts he’s given you.
2. In order to recognize the gifts God has given you, you must fear his wisdom and power.
› So let’s consider this second point regarding…
3. God’s Superiority (14-15)
Man should fear a God who is superior to them in every way. God has done everything perfectly in his timing. He does this so that man will recognize his need for him. We also see that God’s search is always successful.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 ESV
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
God’s Perfect Acts: Only what God has done will endure forever.
God’s Perfect Purpose: He accomplishes his purposes in order to cause man to fear him. Other words for fear include: knowing, trusting, honoring, and obeying. He controls time so that all might respect and revere him.
We are humbled to discover that the world doesn’t revolve around us. We don’t dictate our destiny. We are entirely dependent upon God’s will. And that should cause us to fear his power.
Ecclesiastes 3:15 ESV
That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
God’s Perfect Search: The present and the future are just going to repeat the past. God’s purposes will not be thwarted. This may have to do with God’s future judgment. Or it may refer to God’s sovereign care of the world despite its ceaseless movement.
But what does it mean that God seeks what has been driven away? Is it comforting or convicting?
Since the Preacher is talking about the differences between God and man, he seems to be emphasizing the fact that God’s searching is always successful. He alone gains what he seeks. In contrast to man’s fruitless searching, God’s “searching” accomplishes exactly what he desires.
This truth humbled Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 4:32 ESV
and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
God’s perfect will stands in stark contrast to man’s will. We cannot achieve the satisfaction we desire because our hearts are fallen and deceitful. We think we know what we want, but our desire changes as soon as we receive it.
But once we recognize that God alone controls history, we stand in awe of his wisdom and power.
More than that, we marvel at his plan of redemption. Why would a sovereign God condemn his innocent Son?
We already mentioned that Jesus is the only human who could ever claim to have knowledge of God’s actions from beginning to end.
But, how did that impact the way Jesus lived leading up to his death?
He was faithful. He continued to complete his Father’s will. Even as he prayed in Gethsemane, “Let this cup pass” he concluded, “not my will, but your’s be done.”
Where were the disciples at this time? What was Paul up to? Truly, these questions condemn all of us.
As Paul writes:
Romans 5:6 ESV
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
The cross is the ultimate example of why we should fear God, yet at the same time it shows us the depths of God’s love.
All of this can be gleaned from reflection upon God’s sovereign control of time.
Some might ask: How do you know anything about eternity?
The Preacher hasn’t set out to prove eternity, he has simply stated that God has placed in man’s heart (11). George MacDonald notes the simplicity of the argument:
The NIV Application Commentary: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs Bridging Contexts
… to prove life endless is not a matter of the first importance.… The man with life so in himself … will not dream of asking whether he shall live forever. It is only in the twilight of a half life that the doubtful anxiety of immortality can arise.
Suppressing the truth doesn’t solve anything.
Until you fear God’s power you cannot know his love.
› The proper response is to show God the respect he is due.
Conclusion
Once we call God our Father, we can begin to appreciate the teaching of Jesus:
Matthew 10:29–30 ESV
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear gives way to love.
And the truth is, our fear is only temporary. It is a vapor in light of eternity where one day is as a thousand years (2 Pet. 3:8).
God’s sovereign control of time is a comfort for the Christian because we know God has kept his promise to send Christ and he will return again according to his perfect timing.
Hebrews 12:28–29 ESV
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.