Ecclesiastes Chapter Three cont... What is God doing in your life?

10 “I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it”.

Solomon understood the travail, the burden God put upon man to humble them. He understood it plainly in his own life in that he himself was a backslider and God was trying to humble and break him. But Solomon would not be humbled; he would not bow down to the Lord and be delivered. At times it is a good idea to take an honest look at your life and consider the state you are in. There may be some areas which are quite blessed yet there may be others where there is no blessing at all. That may not necessarily mean you are doing anything wrong but it certainly would be an area to inquire of the Lord as to what He is doing in you life.

11 “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end”.

He makes everything beautiful in His time. This verse speaks to us of the masterful timing of God, it speaks to us of a process of being made what we are to eventually become and yet we know from experience how dark things can be at times. The question we have many times is “Is this really the will of God for me or have I stepped off the path” Well, it is true that some step off the path but just because it is dark where you are at does not mean it is so for you. Recall to mind the advice of Isaiah 50:10 where we see a man of woman who has walked obediently to their God and yet is in darkness! One of the things we learn as we mature is that God makes things happen according to His own time tables. Not only does God make all things happen according to His own time table but He determines the outcome (Isaiah 46:11 “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass...”) How dependent on God we all are! When we seek the Lord how important it is to ask,Him, regardless of how we feel, to bring us into line with His plans. One thing we know for sure is that His thoughts toward His people are good and not evil (See Jeremiah 29:11)

Sometimes we get into trouble, in prayer, because we think too highly of our own plans. When we are seeking the Lord it should be to ask Him to bring His will to pass in our lives. At times we come to prayer thinking "after all God would want me to be happy" and therefore, we hold God to our own expectations. Would we not be more deeply satisfied knowing we pleased our loving Father and are fulfilling His perfect will for our lives?

If we follow after Him with patient continuance and we continue to seek Him He will certainly make something beautiful in our lives in His time! We seek the Lord with great frustration at times because it seems He has not done what we asked but before we get frustrated lets try and come into the place where His will is supreme. Isaiah 49:8 says, basically, I have heard you and helped you when it was in my time to do so. For those who can wait for Him and trust in Him He builds a thing of beauty...

The latter part of the verse is poorly translated in KJV; in the LITV it reads like this: “…Also, He has set eternity in their heart, without which man cannot find out the work that God makes from the beginning even to the end”. We must live with an eternal mind otherwise we cannot find out the plans of God, sometimes they urk us and if our thoughts are on this life only then it impossible to understand what God is doing bit for those who are eternal minded and trust God to fulfill His own plan for our lives, they are the ones who see something beautiful made for them.