Eternity in Our Heart (pt. 2)

Life can be so unpredictable—joys and sorrows, beautiful blessings and distressing difficulties can come unexpectedly. Our life’s dreams and plans can change in an instant. We all know this to be true. So how can we find peace amid such turbulence?

Horatio Spafford knew something about life’s unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.

Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred.1

As Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. He wrote them down, and they have since become a well-beloved hymn:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll—

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Life is full of unexpected turns, sorrows, and joys sometimes leaving us with more questions than answers…that is when we need to turn to God and His Word.

We’re continuing our study from last week in considering God’s sovereignty over all of our life...

Solomon wrote a poem that declares there is a time for everything… now he is going to provide us with a commentary on that poem…by implication of all Solomon says in Ecclesiastes we understand this...

Main Point: Walk by Faith, Trusting in God’s Sovereignty.

Solomon provides us with three insights to consider regarding God’s sovereignty.

Trust God’s Timing in Everything (11).

Solomon asks the question in v. 9 “what profit do we get from all our hard work?”

In his ongoing search to find meaning in life, Solomon wants to know what kind of return he would get for the investment of his time and effort.

Our natural human response is none!

Solomon takes a different perspective at this point.

There is Beauty in God’s Sovereignty.

Not only does Solomon say there is a time for everything (v.1), he says here that God always does things at just the right time.

“Time” calls us back to the poem to show that Solomon is now commenting on these times.

He has made = refers to God’s initial act of creation and also includes everything he has done since then.

NASB = appropriate = literally “beautiful”.

In the OT, this word is first of all a visual term referring to something we can see…as in Job’s daughters being described as the best-looking women in the country…Job 42:15.

In time, it took on a wider range of meaning much like our English word, beautiful.

It can mean something good, right, pleasing and appropriate.

God made everything good and right so that everything perfectly fits its own place and time.

It is in that sense that God is known to have beautiful timing!

Whenever God acts, he is always right on time…he knows the time for breaking down and building up…he knows the time for casting stones and gathering them…he knows the time for war and the time for peace.

Not only did God create the world beautifully, he also rules over it beautifully.

From beginning to end, God does everything decently and in order…much like the seasons we discussed last week.

The overarching point is that God has appointed or ordained all these things as a part of His bigger, hidden plan.

Trust in God’s agenda, instead of trying to force your agenda upon him.

Our plans are not always the best plans, but God’s are always right.

Being in the right place at God’s time, instead of being in the wrong place on our own schedule can change the very course of your life.

Trust in God’s timetable…remember that in the fulness of time had come, Jesus was born… just at the right time Jesus died for our sins.

Gal 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”

Rom 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Remember we live in the gap between time and eternity.

God has placed within the heart of every human being a longing for an eternal perspective… “He has set eternity in our hearts”.

Eternity is in contrast with time

Solomon finds himself caught in between time and eternity.

Life under the sun is not all there is…it is absurd for us to live this life as though there is nothing more.

God made us to know there is more to life than what is here in the right now.

There is a longing in every human heart, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, for the never-ending life with God…a desire to live forever.

The trouble is we still live in a time bound universe.

With eternity in our hearts, we long to understand what God has done from the beginning and continues to do both now and in the future.

However, as finite creatures living in a fallen world, there are so many things we don’t understand.

No one looked harder than Solomon, and he concludes that is impossible for us… “yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done.”

God has a perfect view that is complete…ours is limited and unable to span the mind of God.

We cannot see things the way God sees them…we cannot know or see God’s entire plan or fully grasp it, no matter how much we want to.

I’m reminded of what God says in Is. 55:9.

Isaiah 55:9 (NASB95)

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

This is a major theme in Ecclesiastes…and the purpose of exposing this truth is to drive us to God.

With God there is a time for everything, but as for us, we get frustrated because we are not privileged to know those times and so we must walk by faith.

Our deepest longings will never be satisfied until we come to a personal knowledge of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

With eternity in our hearts, we long for better things than this cursed misery. Because we are trapped between time and eternity, we cannot see the full picture, so we must lean on God to work out a grander plan.

We need to understand a divine purpose and plan were set in motion at the beginning and will work out in the end.

Our sovereign God reigns over all things and not only does He see everything that happens, He declares what will happen.

You and I were made for His divine plan and purposes…so perhaps our frustrations are a result of us turning away from Him.

God wants you to be dissatisfied until you come to fellowship with Him, and you will never be satisfied apart from Him.

Enjoy the Details of Your Life as Part of God’s Design (12-15).

Read v. 12-15.

Solomon makes two observations here about life under the sun.

Use Your Time Joyfully to Serve God

Read v. 12-13

in verse 10, Solomon talks about us occupying our time…staying busy…busy doing what?…that which God has given us to do.

Whatever God has assigned for us to do is to done with joy, with energy, and out of gratitude for the pleasure of serving Him.

Your life and mine are just vapors, so we must enjoy the brief amount of time that God allots us…life is a precious gift that God gives us all…truly only those with an eternal perspective that is bound in our relationship with Christ can find joy in the misery!

We may not always be happy about the way things are going in life, but we can always find joy in the grace of our God and the work He has given us to do!

Regardless of the reasons for our circumstances, in every situation there is always a way for us to glorify God, and that should bring us joy.

In His grace, God has given everyone of us something to do for Him…and whatever it is, we are do our best at it… “do good” — to do good works not trying to earn our way to Heaven, out of gratitude for what God has done for us in Jesus.

Remember Eph 2:10

Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

We don’t work because we have nothing better to do…we work because God has called to work...

Every believer must work for God in your home...do good by loving the people with whom you live.

Every believer must work for God on the job by doing good work for His glory.

Every believer must do good work in the church by employing God’s gifts to you for the building up of the body.

Every believer must do good work in society by showing love through practical deeds of mercy.

In our lifetime…until we die, we are to be focused on doing God’s work.

When we have been reconciled to God through Christ, we are satisfied in our Creator and worship Him instead of the created things.

Life’s experiences take on a completely different perspective when we find our satisfaction in God.

Please hear me carefully…God wants us to enjoy the experiences of this life now by knowing that what happens around you is part of His loving plan as our Heavenly Father.

Let God be God

Read v. 14-15

Whatever God does endures forever…nothing can be added to or subtracted from God’s work in the world.

God’s plan cannot be changed, and He has a specific purpose for His plan and even the frustrations we feel.

It is all designed to cause people to revere Him…this is the key of Ecclesiastes.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the key to alleviating the frustrations of life trapped between time and eternity.

We cannot change the past, the present, or the future.

God uses all of this tension, frustration, and burden to drive us to Him.

God knows there is no meaning or happiness to life apart from Him, and He wants us to learn that.

Some don’t like the concept that our knowledge is limited to what is going on around us…they want God to make Himself and everything else fully known.

Remember that God is under no obligation to cater to our intellectual curiosity…God cannot be manipulated by our whining and complaining for greater revelation.

We love Rom 8:28 don’t we in that the promise of God is that He works all things for our good…what we don’t like is, that included in the word all, are the times of famine, peril, nakedness, and other life pains.

God mixes the good with the bad…the joys and the pains, to make something beautiful.

Often, our response to God is “only give me the good stuff”… God’s design for our growth is not a smorgasbord where we get to choose only the things we like…

…so often we act like Veruca from Willa Wonka…the girl whose father caters to her every desire…she wants the golden goose and if she doesn’t get it she throws a tantrum...

God loves us too much to allow us to become spoiled brats…He uses both pleasure and pain as part of His plan to conform us to Christ.

Sometimes we are too close to see God’s big plan and we need to take a few steps back…I know that there are times when our view tells us it is impossible for anything beautiful to come out of this…that is when we trust God’s heart, and let God be God.

Know That God Will Right All The Wrongs (16-22).

Read v. 16-22

One of the things I love about the poetry of the Bible is how it deals with real life issues…on the heels of his reflection of God’s sovereignty over everything, Solomon is stricken by the observation of injustice in the world and it causes some problems for him.

Solomon is wrestling with the concept that God has a time for everything, yet it doesn’t seem that God has an immediate timetable for dealing with injustice.

v. 16 — Solomon looks to the place where justice should happen and only sees corruption… this was a common theme amongst the prophets also, like Amos, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, always crying out for justice…

Justice is one of the deep longings of the human heart…we see that reflected in our children with the expression “that’s not fair”, and what is our response… “life’s not fair”

Solomon is struggling with the reality that in the place where people turn to get justice turns out to be a place of unfairness…the very court system is corrupt and that God is doing nothing about it!

There truly is nothing new under the sun is there…although much time has passed from Solomon’s day to ours, the human heart has not changed.

I don’t think I need we have to try very hard today to prove that injustice exists at every level of society…everyday we hear those stories...

There was a longing in Solomon’s heart for someone to comfort the oppressed and dry their tears.

v 17 — Is the culminating statement of Solomon in his “appointed time” discussion.

Since there is a reason and season for everything under heaven, Solomon reasons there is a time when God will right the wrongs...

Rather than getting angry and sad about all the oppression we see in the world, take solace in knowing that we can trust God to make things right in the end.

That doesn’t mean we remain silent and never pursue justice…depending on our place in society, the spiritual or civil authority that God has given us, it is our responsibility to fight against oppression.

All of us are called to do what is right in the home, in the church, and in society…social justice is not to be the only note on our piano, but we must do what we can…

We do have a Grace Fund that we use to help those within our church...

We also have a Community Relief fund we use to help those outside our church...

We provide free biblical counseling to all who want it…

We teach our children God’s truth about humanity and how we are to love all humanity the way God wants us to love.

As long as we live in this sin cursed world, we will never bring an end to all oppression…in all the situations that require a power beyond what we are able to accomplish, rest in knowing that God sees it and God will see to it that justice is done.

Our confidence does not lie in a justice system, but in the Supreme Justice himself…Jesus Christ.

God has promised a day when his Son will judge the righteous and the wicked…Acts 17:30-31 ““Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.””

The day is coming when the righteous will be comforted by God....

Revelation 21:4 (NASB95)

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Until then, we pray for justice doing what we can and leaving the rest in God’s hands…trust God will act in His time and His way.

So why doesn’t God act now? Why do we have to wait until the Final Judgment? Solomon gives us some insight into those questions.

God Allows Injustice to Happen to Prove Man’s Character (18).

v. 18 — Our present existence is a proving ground…a test that demonstrates our true character…

It is to show that the unredeemed condition of our heart places us on the same plane as animals.

He is making a specific comparison...

Do we see ourselves for who we really are?

We are like animals in the way we oppress each other…we often don’t recognize the part we play in the injustice...

When someone wrongs us, say stealing from us, we want swift justice. But when we get pulled over for speeding we want mercy!

Animals have no concept of justice or right or wrong…God delays justice to show how wicked and beast-like we are.

Death is the Great Equalizer (19-20)

Solomon reminds us of God’s curse against Adam’s sin…dust we are and to dust we return…man really has no advantage over animals in that regard!

Death is inevitable for both man and animals… people die just like animals die…for all the differences between us, we all have physical bodies that will die.

He is not talking about eternal destiny here of whether dogs and cats go to heaven…(since cats are the devil’s pet, I would say no to cats at least)…he is talking about the grave.

God wants us to take death seriously…death is all around us and ought to point us to the reality of our own mortality…since both man and beasts die if this life is all there is, then life truly is meaningless!

Is this all there is? (21-22).

Read v 21-22…once again thoughts of death overtake his reality...

Solomon reflects upon the delay of Divine justice and the implications of his own mortality…he comes back to his same conclusion “all is vanity”

Solomon is uncertain about the life to come…he is driven to ask “who knows...” as he struggles with this, his first impulse is to throw himself back into his work...

If we face uncertainty regarding our future, then Solomon concludes there is nothing better than enjoying your work while you can...

Unless we have the assurance of eternal life, finding joy in our everyday work will never give us lasting satisfaction.

This is where we need to stop and reflect on the blessing that we know more than Solomon knew…remember he did not have the entirety of Scripture…even though he had great wisdom, his knowledge of God was limited...

We have the full view of Scripture that answers the questions of these verses…

We could answer Solomon’s question from the OT…Ps 49:15 “But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.”

He eventually does answer this question in Eccles 12:7 “then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

Jesus is the ultimate answer to life’s most puzzling question.

Most kids will answer Jesus to every question you ask them regarding the Bible…he truly is the only answer to the question of “can we be assured of an eternal home with him in heaven?

Anyone who wants to know what will happen after death, need only look to Jesus…he conquered death…He was buried and rose again the third day…now everyone who believes in him will dwell with Him in eternity...

John 14:3 (NASB95)

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

2 Timothy 1:10 (NASB95)

but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

Implications

Don’t Lose Sight of Your Eternal Home!

Don’t allow this world to distract you from what God wants you to do.

Even in a world filled with corruption and oppression, there is a better world to come…one where Jesus reigns supremely and completely.

Enjoy Life as a Gift from God!

Life is short for everyone. Take advantage of every opportunity to love one another and enjoy life on God’s terms.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, so make every day count for eternity! God has put eternity on the heart of every man, woman, and child…let’s do our part to teach everyone the truth about their eternity.

Find Comfort in Knowing God is the Ultimate Judge and Will Make All Things Right in His Time and in His Way.

Pray for justice everywhere.

Do your part to love and defend the oppressed and hurting.

Trust God to do what you cannot!

Lead A Capella: IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

Perhaps we cannot always say that everything is well in all aspects of our lives.

There will always be storms to face, and sometimes there will be tragedies. But with faith in a loving God and with trust in His divine help, we can confidently say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Let us walk by faith, trusting in God’s sovereignty, knowing God has a plan and purpose in EVERYTHING!