A new perspective on finding joy (Ecc 3:10).

Pray

Read: Ecc 3:9-11.

Meditation

One thing we must always remember, says Solomon, is who is running the show. Take a look at verse 10: “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” Stop for a moment. Do you see what he did there?

Solomon’s very first response to the bigger question he’s asking here (i.e. is there anything good to be found) is to recall what life really is. Life is not the sum total of our own efforts. If life were something we ourselves invented, then we might ask whether there is anything good in it. When we make something, we usually have a purpose in mind. But we did not invent life. It is not a plan that we made and then executed. It is not something we designed. It is not something we achieve. It is something we have been given.

Life is a gift of God’s grace. And so life is not first about what good we can get out of it. It is about what God has designed it for. That is what Solomon points to in verse 10, and that is an important shift, one that we need to make.

When you receive a gift, by definition you are not entitled to it. It is not something you control for the purpose of self-satisfaction. It is something given to you by someone else.

And so we may ask, is there anything good in life, as though we are entitled to something good. No. Wrong question, says Solomon. Start here: life is a gift from God. Pause for a moment and feel the weight of that. Your life is a gift from God. All this business of life that we are engaged with is the gift of God.

In itself, this should be enough to answer the question anyway. Is there any good to be found in life? Well, who gave it to us? God did. So tell me, when the all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, altogether good God of the universe gives a gift to someone, will it be good? It is a foolish question really. Of course it will be good. Everything he does will be good and perfect in every possible way. He does not do things that are not infinitely and unspeakably wonderful.

The issue is that when we ask whether there is anything good, our expectations are shaped by what we think of as good. Yet we are not in the place of God. And so we must give this question over to God by faith, and simply receive the gift of life and everything that he has in it for us. We are not entitled to something good, because life was never ours to begin with. Life, and everything in it, is the gift of God and belongs to him. As we saw in a recent meditation, he ordains every season and circumstance. In spite of what we may think or feel, we must trust that our God does not do anything useless, fruitless, hopeless, or worthless. He does all things well.

Here, then, is a golden piece of application. Whatever may occur in your life, remind yourself that this is a gift from God. God has given you your life. Whatever is on your plate right now is what God has called you to do at this point in your life. In your family situation, with a spouse or without a spouse, in your workplace, in the place where you are living, everything you do and all the business you are engaged in is given by God’s sovereign appointment.

This matters because we are so vulnerable to complaining. We do complain about our circumstances, and we do feel profoundly dissatisfied with them at times. But we must remember that these things are the gift of God. That is a reality check. In all your circumstances, then, do not ask what you can get out of this. Ask instead: How can I serve God in this? How can I grow in Christ through this? How can I look to him to enable me to walk on the path he has given me? And if anyone lacks wisdom, scripture says, let him ask of God and he will give it. So we must always keep this fresh before our minds: life is a gift of God. It is crucial for fearing God in a fallen world. SDG.

Prayer of Confession & Consecration

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