When God is the
Problem
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Take your Bibles and turn to the third chapter of the book
of Ecclesiastes. We are in the
midst of a sermon series from this great book called “Real life: Understanding
the Meaning of Life.” Even though
Solomon wrote this book over three thousand years ago, it is so relevant for
today.
Solomon has spent the first two chapters showing how he
searched for meaning and purpose in life apart from God. He came to this conclusion: All is
vanity. Life without God became a
problem for King Solomon. But Solomon
also found out that life with God could be a problem.
Solomon’s frustration with God may have been the catalysts
that led him to seek for satisfaction apart from God. He found that life without God is much
more difficult than life with God.
Life with God can be a struggle at times, and Solomon is honest enough
to share his struggles with us in Ecclesiastes.
When does God become a problem? When we are presented with the fact that a good God allows
bad things to happen to people. To
overcome the problem we can say that God is not in control; therefore, he
couldn’t stop the bad thing from happening. Or we say that God didn’t do it, it was the devil. And it would be so much easier for us
to accept the Devil because he is all about evil and bad things. But, if God is good and in control,
then he allowed the devil to do what he did. So you can see how God can become a problem.
Solomon tackles this problem we can have with God by
teaching what the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation: God is sovereign and in control.
1. God is sovereign and in control.
Verse one, “For everything there is a season, and a time for
every matter under heaven:” When Solomon refers to everything, and every matter
under heaven is applying the widest possible range to human activities. If you look at the events that he
speaks of in the poem that follows verse one you will see why. Every human activity has an
appointed time.
Some mistakenly believe that the one who appoints the time
for every matter under heaven is man, but that is not the case at all. It is God who controls time. It is God who governs time. I was studying the great philosophers
from the sixties and seventies, The Rolling Stones, and they had a great deal
to say about time. In 1972 they sang,
“Time is on my Side.” The song
from 1979, “Time Waits for No One”, followed this. Well, maybe Mick realized that time really isn’t on his
side, or in his control. God is
sovereign over time, and it is God who appoints the times for every matter
under heaven. This means that
every event or matter under heaven is a part of God’s plan.
2.
Every event is part of God’s plan.
We see this truth, that every human activity is a part of
God’s plan, in the poem that Solomon uses to illustrate verse two, “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 way 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 live, and a
time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
In this poem, we have fourteen pairs of opposites, or two
sets of seven. What is used here
is a merism, which is a poetic device where extremes are listed to describe,
not on the two extremes, but everything in between the two extremes. You will also find the word “time” used
twenty-eight times. In the Greek
translation of the Old Testament, the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew
word is “kairos.” This really
drives home the truth time and all that happens within time are a part of God’s
eternal plan.
Verse two, “A time to be born, and a time to die.” Yes, from
the time we are born to the time we die, and everything in between, are all a
part of God’s eternal plan. It is
God who appoints when we are born, and it is God who determines when we have
our funeral. The fact that he
refers to planting and harvesting shows that even a cornfield is a part of
God’s plan.
The rest of these opposites point out the fact that life is
full of events, and we don’t have any control over them. Sure, the events have human
participation, but God is still in control.
There will be times that someone you know dies unexpectedly,
but it is followed by a season of joy and happiness, maybe over a job
promotion, or building your dream house.
You are told that you have a disease that could take your life. You sorrow for a while, and then God
heals you and you rejoice.
I will never forget the day that my first-born was
born. I wept with joy over her
birth, and there have been many times of joy during the fourteen years, but
there has also been many tears shed. We don’t have control over tomorrow. We don’t know what will happen
tomorrow, but we do know who holds tomorrow, and everything that happens is a
part of God plan.
Of course, that means that even the bad things that happen
are a part of God’s eternal plan.
That does not mean that everything that happens pleases God. Sin does not please God. What it does
mean is that God is not perplexed when things happen that don’t please him
because he is sovereign and in control.
Every event is a part of his plan.
And yes, this is where we will often have a problem with God.
Verse nine expresses this problem, “What gain has the work
from his toil?” The answer is
clear: all events of life unfold under God’s eternal plan; therefore, all the
efforts of man alone cannot change times, or circumstances. We have no control over events.
How do we live with God when he is the problem? How do we
live with God when his ways do not make sense, and seem to contradict his
character? How do we make sense of a sovereign God when the world around is in
total chaos? Solomon gives us for truths to stand on.
3.
Truths
to stand on:
When
struggling with God, we must realize that God’s sovereignty means that God
makes all things beautiful in his time.
a.
God makes all things beautiful in his time.
Verse ten; “I have seen the business that God has given to
the children of man to be busy with.
He has made all things beautiful in its time.” The phrase “Children of
man” reminds us that we live in a fallen world, but that is not the way the
Lord made it. When he made the
universe God said “it was good.”
And when he created man he said it was very good. God’s creation is good. The fallen nature of his creation is
the result of man’s disobedience.
However, even though man brought the curse upon this world, God has made
all things beautiful in its time.
That means that God can take something meant for evil and use it for
good. Paul spoke about this
in Romans 8:28 when he said, “And we know that for those who love God all
things work together for good.” We
may not understand God’s ways, or his works, but we can understand that he is a
wise God, and he makes all things beautiful in its time. To stand on this first
truth we must trust the wisdom of God.
ü
Trust in the wisdom of God
Next truth is found in the last part of verse eleven. God has made us for another world.
b.
God has made us for another world.
“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.” God has made us to live forever. Because he has put eternity into the
children of man, we long for and look for a never-ending life. So we seek out to know things of the
future. We want to know the
meaning of life and of the world.
We want to understand the universe. This passion to ask why and to search for answers about
meaning and purpose is the result of God putting eternity into our hearts. Unfortunately, God does not allow us to
know everything. God is mysterious
because God is infinite. He is
mysterious because he is eternal.
God knows all of history at the very moment, but we only
know what he has revealed. We want
to know what God knows, we want to know all that makes God so mysterious, but
God will not allow the creature to become equal with the creator. This leaves man frustrated.
Many will seek for answers to meaning and purpose but will
leave God out. This is not how God
designed us. He put eternity into
our hearts so that we would find our way to God. God went as far as sending his Son to provide a way for us
to not only find our way to God, but to become a part of God’s family. God put eternity into our hearts so
that we would realize that we were made for another world, not this fallen
world.
C.S. Lewis put it this way: “If I find in myself a desire
which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another word.” He was right. And this other world that we were made for is found only in
Christ. To stand on
this truth, we must accept the fact that God is mysterious, and we will not
always understand him in this world, and maybe not even in eternity. The third truth is God has
a plan for every individual.
ü
Accept that God is mysterious.
c.
God has a plan for every individual.
Verse twelve, “I perceived that there is nothing better for
them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone
should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil—this is God’s gift to
man.” Everything is a part of
God’s plan, and God has provided a way for us to participate in his plan. How do we do it? We enjoy life by doing
God’s business.
The plan that God has for every person is to glorify
him. Unfortunately, the fall of
man has caused us all to fall short of the glory of God. Since the fall the children of man have
failed to image forth the character and glory of God because of sin. Therefore, God sent his son to pay the
price for our sins so that we could once again do what God has planned for us
before the foundation of the earth, and that is to glorify him in everything we
do.
When we come to Christ we become new creations in Christ
created to do good works for the Lord.
These good works don’t get us to heaven, but reveal that we are going to
heaven because we have experienced the grace of God in Christ Jesus through
faith.
It is God’s plan that we trust his Son Jesus for salvation
so that we can image forth his character and glory in our homes and families,
in our work, in everything that we do.
We truly enjoy life when we spend our life doing God’s business. We stand on this truth by
enjoying life by doing God’s business.
The fourth truth we stand on is the most important. In fact, the first three will only be
experienced when this truth is acted upon. God wants us to worship and submit to him.
ü
Enjoy life by doing God’s business
d.
God wants us to worship and submit to him.
Verse fourteen, “I perceived that whatever God does endures
forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done
it, so that people fear before him.”
God is in control and every event is a part of his plan. What God wants from us is to worship
him and submit to him. He wants us
to have no other gods before him.
God’s sovereignty should not cause us trouble. Instead it should bring us great comfort to know that whatever
happens is under God’s control.
When we fear God it will lead us to see out meaning in life
only in God. If we fear God we
will believe in God, and that every one of our actions are accountable to God,
and that God is the author of all things. When we fear God we trust that God is in control
even though we don’t see him.
There have been many times I have not seen the pilot of a plane that I
flew on, but I know he was there because I heard his voice an I watched the
plane take off and land. Fearing
God means we trust God even though we may not understand his ways. To fear God means that we
submit to and trust in God’s sovereign rule.
ü
Submit to God’s sovereign rule.
God is sovereign and he is good. These two things seem to be in conflict when we look at the
brokenness of this world. God is sovereign,
which means that e is in control of everything that happens to you and
others. This is heard to deal with
when you see things like we saw in Boston, or Connecticut, or Aurora. We see at that happens under God’s
control and we think that he’s not good. He’s cruel.
This is where faith comes in. When God is our problem, we must trust that God is wise,
accept that he is mysterious, live out the plan he has for our life by doing
God’s business, and submit to his sovereign rule.
I have had problems with God on several occasions. I must confess that every time I see
young parents bury their infant child or child I have problems with God. Every time a young person dies to early
I have problems with God. When I
pray for something I know is the will of God and he makes we wait, I have
problems with God. Just this past
week I told God that if my daughter asked me as many times I have asked you, I
would have given it to her. Do you
want to know what God did? Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. You
want to know what I did? I submitted to God’s sovereign rule trusting that God
is wise and will make all things beautiful in his time, accepted the fact that
I will not always understand God’s ways, and I went about doing what God has
called me to do, serve him.
Is your life in chaos? Are you bothered about all the
turmoil in our nation, or in your life? God is in control and wants you to
believe in him. He wants you to
give your life to his son, Jesus Christ.
When God is the
Problem
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
1.
God is sovereign and in control.
2.
Every event is a part of God’s plan.
3.
Stand on these truths:
1)
God makes all things beautiful.
Action: Trust in the wisdom
of God.
2)
God has made us for another world.
Action: Accept that God is mysterious.
3)
God has a plan for every individual.
Action: Enjoy life by serving
God’s kingdom.
4)
God wants us to worship and submit
to him.
Action: Submit to God’s sovereign
rule.
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