(Eccl. 3:1)  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”

What does time mean to you? Is it a good thing, or is it a bad thing for you? The answer is twofold for most people; it is good and bad. It is good when time works in one’s favor; and it is bad when time works hardships or difficult times in one’s life. When times of prosperity come into one’s life, everything seems to be rosy for a season. However, when times of sickness, times of death in the family, times of financial stress etc. come – as far as the flesh is concerned – these times are bad times physically and mentally.

Time is only good or bad when viewed through the eye of the flesh, and not when considered in the purpose of God. The flesh is only happy when the lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life are satisfied, according to the standard of the flesh. But, the child of God is to view time in the purpose of God; all events in the purpose of God for the child of God are good according to (Rom. 8:28). When time is viewed through the purpose of God, then time is always good for the child of God. Why is this fact a truth?

First, it is truth because God is the Author of Time. The fact of the existence of time did not begin with the invention of the clock; or of the sun dial; or of any other measurement tool invented by man. The truth is that God created time in Genesis One, when He created day and night. Time is God’s idea, and not man’s. Therefore, time is for the glory of God, as His purpose for His creation is carried out. God subjected His creation to the limits of time for various and sundry reasons. However, the primary reason for the creation and limitation of time upon His creation is found in (Gal 4:4-5)  “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  (5)  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” The Greek word that is translated “fulness” means when the time was up, when the necessary days of completion had come or had arrived. God had ordained a certain and particular time to manifest Himself in a human body, yet without sin, and they called Him Jesus (Mt. 1:20-23). The birth of Jesus, God in the flesh, was not by chance, but in a particular time ordained of God: “But when the fulness of the time was come…”  

Secondly, all men are limited by time. Even God limited Himself in the Body of Jesus to His own time (Mk. 14:41; Lk. 9:51; Jn. 7:6, 8). Man is not as a leaf floating down the stream, being carried by the sway of the current; but, man is meeting the appointments of God every second of his life. In the text verse notice the words “season” and “time.” The word season means “an appointment.” The word time means “the when; the now.” Therefore, Solomon was saying the same thing in Eccl. 3:1 as the Apostle Paul said in the following phrase in Gal. 4:4, “the fullness of time was come…”

Thirdly, Solomon listed 28 things to show that not only these things would happen at a certain and particular time according to God’s ordained appointment; but, this represented that everything in a one’s life is on God’s timetable and on schedule. David wrote in (Psalm 37:23) “The steps of a good man are ordered (fixed, ordered, ordained, established) by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”

Since this is the teaching of the Word of God (Job 14:5; 23:13-14; etc.); time is not bad when viewed through the purpose of God, and not viewed through feelings of man. There is rest and peace in every event of a child of God’s life – if every event in the life of the child of God is submitted to (Rom. 8:28), in the spirit of the child of God, to God Himself. God either had Paul to write a lie, or the truth in (2 Tim. 3:16) “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” Those that are born of the Spirit of God, know and confess that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. Therefore, (Rom. 8:28) is literally “inspired or breathed of God” through the Apostle Paul; therefore, (Rom 8:28) “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The reason of this devotion is to give the “complainers of time when adversity comes in one’s life” a path to follow, that will bring rest and peace to the believer in times of darkness. The only way to have rest and peace in times of adversity is to know: (1) God created time for His Glory. (2) Every person is limited and restricted by time. (3) Everything, including adversity, in the believer’s life is for his good, as God performs His purpose in the life of the believer.

Believer, God is not asleep in your life; for He never slumbers, nor sleeps, as He performs that which He has appointed for you. You are never alone; you are never forgotten; and you are, and will be, preserved unto the end by the Shepherd of the Sheep.

Rest in Christ, my brother and sister in Christ; for God is in control every second of your life. In God’s eye there are no mistakes, no wrong turns in His Eternal Purpose for you; only that which is good for you, even in adversity.