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Ecclesiastes 8 (ESV)
5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
REFLECTION:
These verses clarify the “proper time” and “just way” of life, and they have far-reaching inspiration for us. Everyone has 24 hours a day, but Solomon tells us that life is not only faced with the “time” that goes by every day, there is also “proper time” in life. Time is different from proper time. Proper time is the opportunity we grasp in the physical time we spend. Jesus often said in the world: “My time has not yet come…” (John 7:6), indicating that everything, including the accomplishment of God’s plan of salvation, has a timing. People have expectations, but God also has His plans and actions. We should have heavenly wisdom to obey God’s plan. Only in this way can we be blessed by God. This is the “just way” of our life. This is actually a tug-of-war between our personal will and God’s sovereignty. Unless we can understand the difference between time and proper time, and aim at the time when God manifests His glory, we are probably just passively tolerating and falsely expecting God to match our pace with emotions of dissatisfaction, doubt, and puzzlement. We should understand that God’s thoughts are higher than ours, and that His will is always the best and perfect. If God wants you to wait for a long time with a pure heart on something that is very important to you, do you have the faith to obey Him?
PRAYER:
Pray for God to give you more spiritual wisdom and firmer faith, so that you can gradually become a person who is willing and able to wait with a pure heart; pray for God to enlighten you so that you can see that He has made everything beautiful in its time. God will surely have a beautiful arrangement for your life, far more abundantly than all that you ask or think.
HYMN:
With All I Am – youtu.be/iTkiCBT0yQs
