In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is attempting to make sense of a life that often does not make sense from a human vantage point. And in chapter 3, he makes an observation that has become one of the most famous, oft-quoted passages in the Bible:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
He sums that all up in v. 11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
And as we read that passage, we can recognize the beauty and truth in its statement. But at the same time, no one who finds himself in a “time for war” would consider it “beautiful.” Certainly not the refugee being chased from his home or the prisoner being held hostage by a hostile government. We would hope that even the victorious party wouldn’t find the carnage “beautiful.”
It isn’t a beautiful thing to watch someone you love waste away from disease or age. But is that what Solomon is really trying to say?
The word “beautiful” in this passage doesn’t seem to refer to the idea of something that is inherently attractive or that has some sort of desirability in itself. Rather, the word – which is translated by the Christian Standard Bible as “appropriate” – seems to indicate the idea of “fitting beautifully.”
“He has made everything fit beautifully in its time.”
So now we need some context! What does it mean to “fit beautifully?”
Solomon has introduced the book in the first two chapters with the phrase “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!” Everything that mankind does is empty because it always ends, it always dies, or the person dies unable to fully enjoy his work or expect that his work will live on after him. “Why bother with any of this if it’s all going to go away when we die?”
That sounds like a pessimistic outlook on life, until you see the context and the point Solomon is trying to make:
Ecclesiastes 2:24–26: There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him? For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes shows us the emptiness of life without God – but it also shows us the fulness of life WITH God. Because knowing God, knowing His power, knowing His eternal promises, the things that otherwise might seem empty and meaningless take on immense meaning.
And so, giving this list in chapter 3 of all the inevitable outcomes of life, Solomon says:
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11: What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.
How impossible is that task? For me to look at my life and try to make sense of everything that has happened – good and bad, just and unjust, tragic and triumphant – and say that I can see a plan in it?
Apart from God, it is impossible. It is a laughable exercise in futility. It is, as Solomon says, vanity.
Solomon says “He has put eternity in their hearts.” He has created us with the ability to understand that there is something beyond this life, something greater than ourselves, some spiritual and eternal purpose that we can’t see. An experience that we cannot “figure out” based on our limited insights and experiences in this life.
But in the eternal site of God, it fits beautifully. It creates a full picture of God’s creation – not only its corruption in rebelling against God’s will, but in the triumph of Christ’s purpose in bringing us back into the grace of God. Because all of these things, when taken together in the life of a Christian, paint the picture of someone who has endured hardships and injustice, embraced the joys of life, and in all of those times, he sees God watching and guiding, hearing our prayers, providing us strength to overcome adversity and endure suffering.
Ac 17:26–27: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
Paul says “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) I’m not called to look at human suffering and see the beauty in it. I’m not called to look at something as horrific as war and say “God says it’s beautiful so I should embrace it.” But I AM called to realize that in all the difficulty, persecution, and pain of this life, God uses those things according to His will, to bring more and more souls to repentance, to increase the faith of others, and to instill in us a greater desire to see God with our own eyes, to understand the eternal nature of His plan, and to be freed from the corruption of this world in exchange for the purity and righteousness of God’s presence.
Knowing all those things, trusting in a God who sees, who judges, and who has mercy, I can be confident no matter which stage of life I find myself experiencing. In loss or gain, in peace or pain, I can rejoice in every good gift while enduring with patience the suffering of life – knowing that God has something greater in store for me. Knowing that my obstacles are not there for me to overcome through my own power, but rather to remind me to call out to God for His mercy and strength, asking Him to remember His promises and deliver me. If not in this life, but in eternity with Him. And God says that in doing so, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Co 12:9)
Ecclesiastes 3:12–15: I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him.
