A Season and Purpose
Notes
Transcript
A Season and Purpose
A Season and Purpose
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
The function of this section is to call us to a view of God’s sovereignty which both reassures and yet sobers the reader.
It reassures because of God’s control; yet it sobers because God’s control remains mysterious. 1
There is purposefulness in life because of God’s oversight of its seasons
15 My times are in thy hand: Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
When I study God's sovereignty, it brings to mind some questions – Is God really in control of my life and circumstances? What is the extent of His control? Can I trust Him?
Sovereignty is defined as "God's control over His creation, dealing with His governance over it: Sovereignty is God's rule over all reality."
Does His control over "all reality" encompass my life too?
Does that mean that nothing is random or comes by chance? Does God purpose everything?
Isaiah 14:24 says, "The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand.’”
God is unlimited in power and is not thwarted by anything outside Himself.
He is in complete control of our circumstances and that should lessen our fears and give us confidence in our future. That sovereignty is overshadowed by God's compassion, His goodness, love, mercy, compassion, faithfulness, and holiness.
J.I. Packer wrote, "Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty, acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours."1
God's Sovereignty – Getting to Know Him
It is impossible to trust someone we don't know! That's why an understanding of God's sovereignty requires that we get to know God.
His Word says He is worthy of our trust"God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19).He has proven Himself trustworthy
"Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses" (1 Kings 8:56).
We have no other sensible optionsOur only other options are trusting in ourselves or others—all sinful, fallible beings. We are unpredictable and unreliable. We make horrible mistakes and unwise choices.
It is important to remember the importance of getting to know our God.
It is hard to trust someone you don't know.
God has not made Himself difficult to find or know. All we need to know about God, He has graciously made available to us in the Bible. To know God is to trust Him.
Start and Finish
Start and Finish
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
The boundaries of life are in His hands!
There is a time to be born. The person himself has no control over this, and even the parents must wait out the nine months which form the normal birth cycle.
There is also a time to die. Man’s allotted span is seventy years, according to Psalm 90:10, but even apart from that, it seems that death is a predetermined appointment that must be kept.
The blessed hope of Christ’s return inspires the believer to look for the Savior rather than the mortician. As the preacher Peter Pell put it so colorfully, “I’m not waiting for the undertaker—I’m waiting for the uppertaker!”
A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted. With these words, Solomon seems to cover the entire field of agriculture, linked closely as it is with the seasons of the year (Gen. 8:22). Failure to observe these seasons in planting and harvesting can only spell disaster.[1]
What season are you in?
How are you going to finish.....
We need to start right but we are remembered how we finished....
13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Hurt and Healing
Hurt and Healing
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;
Without divine revelation, it seemed to him that life was either a slaughterhouse or a hospital, a battlefield or a first-aid station.
A time to break down, and a time to build up. First the wrecking crew appears to demolish buildings that are outdated and no longer serviceable, then the builders move in to erect modern complexes and rehabilitate the area of blight.[1]
What season are you in ?
God puts us in the hurt .....
Hurt
focus on God
close in prayer
spiritual growth
The healing or the hurting ?
What stage of life are you in the building
Building and growth
financial success
Moving in right direction
Job going well
Or in God time is everything crashing down?
we will have times of crashing down
Weep or Laughter
Weep or Laughter
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
From the concept of death and destruction, Solomon wrote of the human responses to those events. People experience weeping and mourning, and their opposites, laughing and dancing, two activities by which joy is expressed[1]
A time to mourn, and a time to dance. The funeral procession passes by with its mourners wailing in grief. But before long, these same people are dancing at a wedding reception, quickly removed from their recent sorrow[1]
Good Days under the Sun Enjoy them and praise God
Weeping years - draw close to God
no regrets
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Embrace or Walkaway
Embrace or Walkaway
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones.
Taken at face value, this means that there is a time to clear land for cultivation (Isa. 5:2), then to gather the stones for building houses, walls, or other projects.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. In the realm of the affections, there is a time for involvement and a time for withdrawal. There is a time when love is pure and a time when it is illicit.[1]
Gain or Loose
Gain or Loose
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
This makes us think of business cycles with their fluctuating profits and losses. First the markets are bullish with income soaring. Then they become bearish, and companies find themselves in the red.
Keep or Throw Away
Keep or Throw Away
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away. Most housewives are familiar with this curious pattern. For months or even years, they stash things away in closets, basements, and attics. Then in a burst of house-cleaning zeal, they clear them out and call some local charity to cart the gathered items away.[1]
Silent or Speaking
Silent or Speaking
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Love or Hate
Love or Hate
A time to love, and a time to hate. We must not try to force these words into a Christian context. Solomon was not speaking as a Christian but as a man of the world. It seemed to him that human behavior fluctuated between periods of love and periods of hate.[1]
closing the season you are in is where God has placed you ....
life - death
speaking or silence
happy or sad
gaining or loosing
building or tearing down
God has placed you where you belong!