There is a Season
He leads me …
A Time for Everything
For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)
For a lot of people this list of opposites is interesting, but probably does not make a lot of sense. Those of us old enough will remember these words in the song that the Byrds produced in 1965, followed by the Seekers version in 1966. So let us see what it actually means.
Essentially in these verses Solomon is looking at the purpose in each of our lives. We can break down the meaning of each verse, but we will still come to the same overall conclusion – that while we know that we will experience most of these things, we do not know when they will occur in our lives. But God does. This is because He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. So what do these words mean?
Omnipotence
There is no greater power in existence than the power of God, and there is nothing in existence that God doesn't have power over. Creatures do disobey Him when they sin, and yet, He uses sinful, disobedient actions for His good purposes. Because His word always overcomes, we can trust whatever He says.[1]
Omniscience
Everything God does has an intelligent purpose, and a definite goal. And since God’s power is universal, so is his knowledge. God knows everything. There isn't a single thing that can be known, past, present, or future, that God isn't intricately aware of.[2]
Omnipresence
God is "all-present" or present everywhere at once. There is not anywhere that we could go to escape His presence. This is what David was expressing in Psalm 139, and if he has exhaustive knowledge of everything his power has brought to pass, then certainly he is not absent, but present in each event.[3]
When we consider these attributes of God, we may wonder whether we are just His puppets, because He looks to have full control of everything. Not at all. Due to the fall of Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden we are all sinners, but we are still able to make our own decisions. However, the Lord does warn us that if we intentionally sin, there will be consequences (Is. 30:1).
Whether we like it or not, we are completely in God’s hands. We do have free will, but in in the background the Lord directs what happens to us. Christians know that the Lord is with us because we see how He guides us through the Bibles teaching, our conscience, intuition, giving us a burden, giving us His peace, dreams and visions, and other people etc.
The Lord does similar things for non-Christians too. When someone says that they had a really great idea, where did that come from? Or they are wondering what to do next and suddenly they realise what it is. Sometimes they get a feeling that they should contact someone, and when they do the other person says, ‘Oh I was just thinking about you.’ Unfortunately non-Christians do not see what God is doing because they are not spiritually attuned.
In each case the Holy Spirit communicates gently. There is no pressure. We can use our free will to respond or ignore His promptings.
We know that God does not want anyone to go to hell because firstly He is Perfect Love and then John 3:16 says that Jesus died that none should perish. So He does what He needs to get our attention, but it is over to us how we respond.
Remember, the Lord already knows what we will do because He is omniscient and knows what will happen long before it actually does. Because He has dealt with billions of people, He also knows from our personalities and behaviour whether we are likely to respond positively to Him or not.
Being Christians does not mean that the rest of our lives will be relaxed and trouble free. The Lord uses all kinds of situations – even negative ones - to direct our lives into a better outcome than where we were to begin with. This is the process of sanctification which endeavours to make us more Christ-like.
Part of the process involves the seasons and times that we looked at to begin with. Like a lot of things that the Lord does, some of them do not make a lot of sense, but we are called to accept what He does by faith knowing that He has our best interests at heart.
[1] Omnipotence - Psa 115:3; cf. Isa 55:11 and Jer 32:17, Gen 18:14; Isa 55:11, Psa 105:24-25, Gen 45:5-8, Exod 4:21, Psa 105:24-25, Rom 9:18, Acts 2:23, 4:28, Deut 18:21-22
[2] Omniscience - Psa 147:5, John 21:17, Heb 4:12-13, 1Jn 3:20, 1Sam 10:2, 1Kgs 13:1-4, 2Kgs 8:12, Psa 139:4, Acts 2:23, 4:27-28
[3] Omnipresence - . Psalm 139, Gen 26:3, Exod 6:7, 2Cor 6:16; cf. Gen 17:7, Exod 6:7, 29:45, Lev 26:12, Jer 7:23, 11:4, 24:7, 30:22, Ezek 11:20, 14:11, 36:28, 37:27, Heb 11:16, Rev 21:3, Isa 7:14, Matt 1:23, John 1:14. John M. Frame, The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/omnipotence-omniscience-omnipresence-god/
