Just days ago, I sat at my desk with my Bible and pondered some deep issues. This is not an unusual occurrence for me, but the thought God brought to me that day stands out in my memory. My face was not turned toward my desk, as I sat with my chair facing a bookshelf. My forearms rested on my knees as I grasped my Bible in both hands. I wanted God to speak directly to my heart, for I was feeling a rush of emotions. After gazing generally at the open pages of my Bible, I bowed my head and whispered a prayer to God. My head just hung there, and my body was bent over, waiting to sense God’s presence. Just then, I decided to look up and out the window. As I did, my eye caught a poster hanging on my office wall. A bright butterfly is pictured beside the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB), “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” The words of the poster held my gaze for more than a few moments. My spirit focused on two words, under heaven. A rush of profound relief came over my mind as I sensed God impress on me this thought, “Shelli, everything under heaven changes and goes through seasons, and I [God] am in control all the while.”
My attempted description of God’s working in my heart that day simply cannot adequately relate how the Lord did a miracle for my thinking through His Word. I pray He will radically infiltrate your heart with the truth too. Under heaven – on this earth – we will experience the ebb and flow of life. Some seasons and changes are the direct result of God’s mandate for the natural world: morning follows night, autumn follows summer, and a harvest follows planting. Some seasons and changes are the results of man’s will, whether his will is aimed at God or is in rebellion to God. A man may choose to shun embracing when true agreement over critical issues can no longer be reached. A woman may begin a season of laughter after a long struggle to emerge from grief. A man may embark on a season of dancing while blessings flow. A woman may choose to try to sew together various pieces of her life. A nation may declare war. A man may begin a time of searching for lost family relationships. Another may choose to embrace a season of loss rather than to continue a search. As these innumerable events continue under the canopy of heaven, God sits on His throne, carefully ensuring that “all things [work] after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11b, NASB). This is our assurance. Seasons come, and seasons go; but all events are appointed by a God with a plan.
The Hebrew root word implies that “there is a time for every ‘delight or pleasure’ under heaven.” In other words, while we remain in this world, times of delight will come in spurts. A time of birth is amazing, but times of death come too. Even though we experience wonderful seasons of love, hate is close by. How we rejoice in seasons of building up, but how we mourn in seasons of tearing down. In this life, things are volatile. Pleasure and delight are limited, held to their seasons by the damning nature of sin.
However, our wonderful God assures us that His limitation of delight only happens under heaven. One day, we shall be in Heaven with God! Psalm 16:11 (NASB) shall come to pass for us, “In Your [God’s] presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Praise to our God! No more will there be only seasons of pleasure; but we shall then experience the absolute, all-pervasive nature of God’s joy, untainted by sin.
The apostle John’s testimony resonates with the book of Ecclesiastes. In Heaven, there will be no more death or mourning (Revelation 21:4). Those seasons (as outlined in Ecclesiastes 3:2, 4) will be gone, and the fullness of life and joy will have entered in. In Heaven, all will come together. All will love and experience blessed peace. All will be healed.
Until that day, I remember that the changes I now experience are seasons in the hands of a mighty God who stands above the earth, above the universe, and above every changing circumstance. Somehow, He has appointed every time and season. He not only sees what I am facing, He is in charge of it. I will trust the God who is over all, even as I wait for fullness of joy.
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB)