The Power of His Presence

A daily devotion for February 6th

From your friends at RayStedman.org

A Time For Everything

Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

We now have come to the third chapter, which describes the combination of opposites in our experience. Throughout this chapter the idea is propounded that there is an appropriate time for all of life's experiences.

There is an appropriate time for everything, the unpleasant as well as pleasant experiences. This is not merely a description of what happens in life; it is a description of what God sends. Many of us are familiar with the Four Spiritual Laws, the first of which is, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That is the plan that is set forth here. All along, the Searcher is saying that God desires to bring joy into human experience. Many people think Ecclesiastes is a book of gloom and pessimism because of the findings based on the writer's limited view of those things under the sun, the visible things of life. But that is not the message of the book. God intends us to have joy, and His program to bring it about includes all these opposites.

If you look carefully, you will see that these eight opening verses gather around three major divisions that correspond, amazingly enough, to the divisions of our humanity: body, soul, and spirit.

The first four pairs deal with the body: a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Notice how this applies to the physical life. None of us asked to be born; it was something done to us, apart from us. None of us asks to die; it is something God determines. So this is the way we should view this list of opposites, as a list of what God thinks we ought to have. It begins by pairing birth and death as the boundaries of life under the sun.

Then the Searcher moves into the realm of the soul with its functions of thinking, feeling, and choosing—the social areas—and all the interrelationships of life that flow from that. Verse 4 tells us there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. All these things follow closely, and they are all appropriate. No one is going to escape the hurts and sorrows of life is what he is saying here. God chose them for us. In a fallen world it is right that there will be times of hurt, of sorrow and weeping. The last six of these opposites relate to the spirit, to the inner decisions, the deep commitments. There is a time to search [for work, marriage, new friends] and a time to give up (Ecclesiastes 3:6). There comes a time in life when we should curtail certain friendships or change our jobs, for instance, and lose what we had in the past. It is proper and appropriate that these times should come.

All of this is God's wonderful plan for your life. The problem, of course, is that it is not our plan for our life. If we were given the right to plan our lives we would have no unpleasantness at all. But that would ruin us. God knows that people who are protected from everything almost invariably end up being impossible to live with; they are selfish, cruel, vicious, shallow, and unprincipled. God sends these things in order that we might be taught. There is a time for everything, the Searcher says.

Father, thank You for all the experiences of life that You have planned for me, so that I might be conformed to the image of Your Son.

Life Application

Are we learning to see God's wise direction and providence in the contrasting experiences of our lives? If we were in charge would the result be wholeness & joy?

Related Message

For more on this portion of Scripture, read the message:
That Wonderful Plan for Your Life
or listen to the audio by clicking:

Listen to Ray

Devotions for February

Daily Devotion © 2006 by Ray Stedman Ministries. For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved.

https://www.raystedman.org/old-testament/ecclesiastes/that-wonderful-plan-for-your-life

Dear Barbara, thought I'd share this latest creation with you (since it sort of came to be while reading the Bible verse quoted in the prayer letter, Romans 12:12. Also included is a wonderful devotion I appreciate and enjoy reading & listening to. ❤️ & thank you for the worship invite!

https://suno.com/s/KE3cxQQOtSYXazwU

Rejoicing in hope of Christ our King, Singing praises for life & everything; Rejoicing in hope of Christ our Life, Rehearsing worship to God on High!

Hallelujah!

[Chorus]
Oh! The Joy of it all,
Rescued from The Fall;
Waiting for Christ, Jesus,
To take us Up to Heaven!

Hallelujah!

Rejoicing in hope of Christ Jesus our Savior, Lifting voices to thank our holy Lord; Rejoicing in hope of Christ our Light, Resounding praise and worship to Father, God on High!

Hallelujah!

Oh! The Joy of it all,
Redeemed from destruction
Waiting for God, our Savior
To take us Up to Heaven!

Hallelujah!

Rejoicing in hope of Jesus
Christ our Shepherd;
We pray to God our Father,
His Son, & the Holy Spirit...

Hallelujah!

Rejoicing in hope, patient when trouble happens, continuing faithfully in prayer. [Rom. 12:12]

Tried to write something with a chorus and ended up with this. Needs work,
but I like it 👌

REJOICING IN HOPE

https://suno.com/s/GOsUJjTHq9WwVES6

A Note Of Joy

A daily devotion for February 5th

RayStedman.org

Read: Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness Ecclesiastes 2:24b-26a

The true message of this book is that enjoyment is a gift of God. There is nothing in possessions, in material goods, in money; there is nothing in people themselves that can enable them to keep enjoying the things they do. But it is possible to have enjoyment all your life if you take it from the hand of God. It is given to those who please God.

Wisdom and knowledge have been mentioned before as things you can get from under the sun, but they will not continue. To have added to them the ingredient of pleasure, of continual delight unceasing throughout the whole of life, you must take it from the hand of God. The person who pleases God is given the gift of joy.

It is wonderful to realize that this book teaches us that God wants us to have joy. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul said, [He] richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). It is God's desire and intent that all the good things of life that are mentioned here should contribute to people's enjoyment; but only, says this Searcher, if you understand that enjoyment does not come from things or people. It is an added gift of God, and only those who please God can find it.

How do you please God? In many places in Scripture we are told that without faith it is impossible to please God. It is faith that pleases Him, belief that He is there and that everything in life comes from His hand. Underscore in your minds the word all. Pain, sorrow, bereavement, disappointment, as well as gladness, happiness, and joy—all these things are gifts of God. When we see life in those terms, any and every element of life can have its measure of joy—even sorrow, pain, and grief. These things were given to us to enjoy.

This is also the message of Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. It is also the message of Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Father, all things come from Your hands. I thank You that You sent Your Son that I might have Your joy within me.

Life Application

Shall we choose to live each day as grateful receivers, acknowledging every good gift as God's provision? Have we seen His intent for joy in all we experience?

Related Message:

For more on this portion of Scripture, read the message:

Life in the Fast Lane
or listen to the audio by clicking:

Listen to Ray:

https://media.raystedman.org/audio/ecclesiastes/3807.mp3