Tag: Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

A God-Given Burden: “yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the very beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 Revised Standard Version

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil?

10 I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 also that it is God’s gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

To believe or not to believe in God … that is the most troubling of questions.

Ultimately, I believe there are no true atheists. Those who do claim atheism may be unwilling to publicly or privately acknowledge this about themselves, but God has given to every person a heavy burden. In the deep recesses of their being, they know that God is—and it is the very “is-ness” of God which creates a tug of war dilemma in men’s and women’s hearts and minds.

God created the world, and He made it beautiful in all of its perfection. God also made mankind to know Him, to commune with Him, to walk with Him in the garden, to and to enjoy all the benefits of His companionship. But man turned his back on the Designer, and as a result the perception of eternity that has been implanted within us is one which now largely taunts, tyrannizes and tests us.

People naturally seek to repress a knowledge of God (Romans 1:18-19), but a knowledge of God is inescapable. God has created us for a divine purpose—to know and worship Him—and unless we discover and fulfill that purpose, we will never be fully satisfied with anything else offered along life’s journey.

No relationship with a child, parent, spouse, lover, or friend can fulfill this great longing, nor can any experience, any possession, or any achievement.

This is the unacknowledged burden that God has laid on humanity: we will be forever dissatisfied until we do come to know the only thing that can bear the weight of our eternity—namely, to know Him and live in fellowship with Him.

You and I, who are creatures of time, were made for eternity.

We were made for God’s presence.

It should therefore be no surprise to us that when we turn away from Him, our lives are marked by frustration and confusion. When we choose to live in the dark, we lose our sight. The day that we finally acknowledge this is a great day.

The burden of being without God will weigh you down until you realize there has to be an answer somewhere, in someone else. And, of course, there is.

There are many things in this life that are beautiful, and we are free to enjoy them in accordance with the way God designed us to.

But there is nothing in this life that is ultimate, and we will not be free until we not only acknowledge this intellectually but live it out in our experience.

Is there something that you are determined to have, or to get, in your life because you think it will make you truly alive and fulfilled?

What is it that you feel you could not live, or could not be happy, without?

Be careful not to allow something good to become your god.

Instead, pray, place your ultimate hopes on the shoulders of the only one who is strong enough to bear them: the Eternal One.

To believe or not to believe in God … that is the most troubling of questions.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 31 Revised Standard Version

Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

31 In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in thy righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline thy ear to me,
    rescue me speedily!
Be thou a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

3 Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress;
    for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net which is hidden for me,
    for thou art my refuge.
5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit;
    thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

6 Thou hatest[a] those who pay regard to vain idols;
    but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad for thy steadfast love,
    because thou hast seen my affliction,
    thou hast taken heed of my adversities,
8 and hast not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    thou hast set my feet in a broad place.

9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief,
    my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,[b]
    and my bones waste away.

11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
    a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
13 Yea, I hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in thee, O Lord,
    I say, “Thou art my God.”
15 My times are in thy hand;
    deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors!
16 Let thy face shine on thy servant;
    save me in thy steadfast love!
17 Let me not be put to shame, O Lord,
    for I call on thee;
let the wicked be put to shame,
    let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be dumb,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.

19 O how abundant is thy goodness,
    which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee,
and wrought for those who take refuge in thee,
    in the sight of the sons of men!
20 In the covert of thy presence thou hidest them
    from the plots of men;
thou holdest them safe under thy shelter
    from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was beset as in a besieged city.
22 I had said in my alarm,
    “I am driven far[d] from thy sight.”
But thou didst hear my supplications,
    when I cried to thee for help.

23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful,
    but abundantly requites him who acts haughtily.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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“Come Holy Spirit, and Gift Unto Us a Prayer to Live With Eternity in Mind” Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

“Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best of minds. Men and women live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hand on the door latch, they die outside.” ~ Christian Apologist, G. K. Chesterton

When I read and re-read this quote from Chesterton today on my Facebook feed yesterday, as I closed out the activities for my 62nd Birthday, it reminded me of that passage in Ecclesiastes, a passage that said God “put eternity in our hearts.”

All the while I was in my Mother’s womb, God weaved “eternity into my heart.”

Somewhere, somehow, God, my Creator, weaved “eternity deep into my DNA.”

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 English Standard Version

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 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. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

“Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best of minds. Men and women live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hand on the door latch, they die outside.” ~ Christian Apologist, G. K. Chesterton

When I read and re-read this quote from Chesterton today on my Facebook feed yesterday, as I closed out the activities for my 62nd Birthday, it reminded me of that passage in Ecclesiastes, a passage that said God “put eternity in our hearts.”

All the while I was in my Mother’s womb, God weaved “eternity into my heart.”

Somewhere, somehow, God, my Creator, weaved “eternity deep into my DNA.”

Because God did this to me and for me, before I was even aware, of God, I can never shake the irrepressible feeling deep within my soul that there absolutely has to be something infinitely more waiting for me in eternity than in this life.

Collectively, in our response to this inner sense of eternity, we can and often do spend our lives either unaware of it, denying it, sidestepping it, fleeing from it, or attempting to resolve it without the assistance of the One who placed it there.

And this only leaves only leaves us in that empty space we call “wanting more.”

What we are called to do instead is turn to the One of whom it is said, “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36)(ESV).

Romans 11:33-36 English Standard Version

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

We turn to the only One in whom we find our origin, our purpose, our destiny.

We can know the only One who holds for each of His Children, in His righteous right hand, the indescribable feeling for eternity that He placed in our hearts.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)(ESV).

Jesus said, unto his disciples a day before he died;

John 14:25-27 The Message

25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

This is the only path that will satisfy that nagging sense of greater things and the only path that leads us all to both reconciliation and an eternity with God.

The Gift of A Prayer to Live with Eternity in Mind

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 The Message

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Eternity is a simple word but a complex concept.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.”

  • We waited in line for something relatively inconsequential for an eternity.
  • We are waiting for the blessed announcement of a baby being born.
  • We are waiting for the announcement that someone has passed away.
  • We are waiting for the arrival of family on Christmas or Easter Day.
  • We are waiting for laboratory and radiology test results to be read.
  • We are waiting for the bank to approve our very first Mortgage.
  • We think spring will never come; winter has lasted for an eternity.
  • We have a vacation planned for only a few weeks away, but it feels like an eternity on the calendar.
  • We are waiting for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to Return – “as promised.”

The undeniable reality is that, as humans, we cannot truly fathom eternity.

We know that God has provided eternal life to those who trust in His Son Jesus, but our understanding of the weight of eternity is beyond our comprehension.

Recently, I have come across numerous sermon series, devotional articles, and books, social media posts encouraging believers to live with eternity in mind.

But what exactly does that mean? 

Paul encourages us in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever (NLT).”

Life in a fallen world is tough; there’s no escaping the effects of sin in our lives.

But, we can shift our priorities, our mindsets our perspective, focusing on the things that matter to God (the eternal) and sacrificing ourselves, surrendering ourselves, letting go of those things that don’t matter (the things of this world).

Romans 12:1-2 The Message
Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

As one of my favorite preachers sermonized, “preaches easy, lives hard.”  

We are ever so easily, quickly distracted, discouraged, and disillusioned daily.

It is impossibly challenging to “keep on persevering, keep on pushing forward in our faith, and remain steadfast and immovable always abounding in God’s work.”

The world’s message is “live your best life now,” but God’s word preaches us so utterly and radically different, stating “your forever life is yet to come.”

If we back up a verse to 2 Corinthians 4:17, Apostle Paul again reminds us,

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  

What we are experiencing today will one day come to an end.

Even if the season of steadfast and immovable sorrow drags on forever or your difficult circumstances continue to stay the same day after day, God will still make everyone and everything new one day – and in this new world, His eternal kingdom, there will be no more tears and pain – Just LIFE (Revelation 21:1-4).

I am not sure what anyone of you readers are going through today but PLEASE be ENCOURAGED, be EMPOWERED and take heart; God sees and cares for you.

Psalm 121 The Message

121 1-2 I look up to the mountains;
    does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
    who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

3-4 He won’t let you stumble,
    your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
    Guardian will never doze or sleep.

5-6 God’s your Guardian,
    right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
    sheltering you from moonstroke.

7-8 God guards you from every evil,
    he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
    he guards you now, he guards you always.

On this side of Heaven, you may continue to experience the consequences of sin, but please be INSPIRED, be an INSPIRATION, God’s great mercy provided a way for all His Children to have eternal peace through salvation in Christ Jesus.

Be the ENCOURAGER, Pray, Cling, to the eternal hope we have in our salvation, and let the presence of the Holy Spirit fill you as you live with eternity in mind.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for being a God who cares about our burdens. We know that you are God who sees and hears the cries and prayers of your children. Help us to live with eternity in mind. Blessed Intercessor Holy Spirit of God, We pray fervently you will Be with us as we strive to focus more on the eternal, shifting our perspective from temporary things that distract us from living a life for Your glory alone. Forgive us when we sin against you, and be with us as we pursue holiness.

We love you, Lord; we are undeserving of your grace and mercy but thankful that you freely grant us both. We ask that you strengthen and help us as we share the Gospel in a broken world. Guide our conversations, and direct our paths to those who need to experience the eternal hope of salvation through Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ Name.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Ecclesiastes 3:11 Our Vision For Eternity: Advent Week Three: “And the Word became Flesh and He LIVED Among Us!”

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13The Message

9-13 But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God has no bounds ….

God will fit in no one’s box even if the size of that box is the size of the universe.

Yet, in restrictive confines our own humanity, we serve a God of boundaries.

In God’s limitless capacity, endless creativity, indescribable glory and infinite wisdom, His boundless existence, God still chose to create boundaries for us.

God still had vision for what was good, right, pleasing, and perfect.

And as children made in his image, we are to live, think, and create as he does.

In a world marked by unbounded busyness from seemingly boundless infinite opportunities, it’s important now more than ever for us to create boundaries.

And still, in God’s infinite wisdom, He knew we would never be satisfied with such a limited, narrowed and restrictive space being forced and pushed upon us.

Our ever wiser God, full of grace and truth and a vision of and for reality, knew we would never be satisfied with our unlimited limits and unlimited boundaries.

This is a lesson we learned from the Tower of Babel – we want to reach the sky!

We are insatiable creatures.

We are insatiably curious, we have this insatiable desire, in that we want to know, to see, to experience, go far beyond the limits of the known Universe.

And the miraculous part of it is this, even after Babel …. IT IS A GIFT OF GOD!

Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 Amplified Bible

God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man

11 He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live; 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and see and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

To be a true person of vision is to live this life in light of eternity.

Without a real revelation of eternity, this life will be marked by hopelessness and a sense of aimless wandering.

Without a real revelation of eternity, our limited vision for a life of unlimited abundance and blessings would stop directly with eyes in front of our hands.

God wants us to know Him!

God wants us to be in relationship with him!

God wants us to be in an everlasting connection with Him.

“remove THY hands from in front of THY faces, seek MY face, seek MY hands!”

Only when our destination comes into view can we rightly see the diverse array, the myriad and myriad of various circumstances littered, strewn along the long and winding and widening concourses of this temporary life God limits us to.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-13Easy-to-Read Version

11 God gave us the ability to think about his world,[a] but we can never completely understand everything he does. And yet, he does everything at just the right time.

12 I learned that the best thing for people to do is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 God wants everyone to eat, drink, and enjoy their work. These are gifts from God.

To look to eternity requires us to trust.

Our minds are finite.

In the only world we have ever known, life is marked by a beginning and end, by birth and death.

But in and throughout the length and breadth of Scripture we discover that God is the Maker of life, the Great and infinite Physician and the Conqueror of death.

We discover in the coming of Jesus, as is revealed in the four Gospels, we are promised eternal life in unhindered, unveiled, communion with our Creator.

To live with our limited vision for eternity is limitless trust things are not as they will be and to surrender the entirety of this life with hope for the next.

When we live seeking satisfaction from the things of the world, we live as if heaven did not exist and God did not usher in his kingdom through Jesus.

Our limited vision for the things of this world would grow abundantly, blessedly grow more and more dim, to only have final value in the Giver of all good gifts.

So our possessions, relationships, and work only have value here because they are a series of diverse shadows of what is to come when all things are made new.

God planted the seed of eternity within us knowing, only through Him, it will germinate and raise itself above the ground revealing the vast beauty therein.

Having such a vision of vast beauty here on earth our vision for eternity should prayerfully lead us to create beautiful boundaries around everything in this life.

It should lead us to such an abundantly beautiful lifestyle of surrender that our hearts might never become tied to that which is fleeting, can never fully satisfy.

Leads us to a lifestyle of fully enjoying all the beautiful the things God has given and gifted to us, including our vision of Immanuel, all the while knowing all the things of this life are merely fleeting shadows in comparison to what is to come.

Do you feel tied to the things of your life today?

Feel as if your unlimited vision of eternity is forever tied to your possessions, relationships, work owns you rather you enjoying them to the glory of God?

From your vision of eternity, are you only seeking to find total satisfaction in the “rusty” things of the world, or are you finding peace in the hope of heaven?

Take time today in guided prayer to surrender your life again to Jesus.

Allow God to cut away any ties you have to that which is chaining your heart to this world.

Find abundant joy and peace in the unlimited freedom that comes from God’s promised gifts of abundance and blessings living in light of a limitless eternity.

May you find freedom and joy these days as you receive the gift of vision and set up beautifully hopeful, prayerful boundaries under the leadership of Holy Spirit.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Take quality time today in guided prayer to surrender your life again to Jesus.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on what the Bible says about eternity. Allow Scripture to fill you with vision for what’s to come.

“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.” Psalm 102:25-27

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:2-3

2. Are you living in light of eternity? Do you feel your heart tied down to any things of the world?

31 “Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. 33 What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. 34 So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.” Matthew 6:31-34

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15

3. Hopefully, Prayerfully set boundaries around having vision for eternity. 

Lay down anything holding you back from living in freedom from this world at the feet of Jesus.

Take time to enjoy God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, that the foundation of your vision for life would be full communion with him.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek[a] my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”[b]
9     Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation! Psalm 27:7-9

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

84 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.[b]
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
    each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
    give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you! Psalm 84

In Galatians 5:16 Paul writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” 

When you take time to enjoy God every day and seek to live in communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God will faithfully guide you away from your vision of the “rust worthy” things of the world and full into His fullness of joy in Him.

May you find comfort and hope in connection with the living God today as you seek to live with God’s boundless, boundary less, unlimited vision for eternity.

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