God has put ‘ETERNITY’ in our HEARTS!
July 9
Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes Chapters 1-3
God has put ‘ETERNITY’ in our HEARTS!
"What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have
seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has
made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find
out the work that God does from beginning to end." (Eccl. 3:9-11)
The question
asked by King Solomon in the above passage is the same question that he had asked earlier in 1:3. The answer to this
question is that all of life unfolds
the appointment of God. All the toils
of humankind cannot change the times, circumstances, and control of events that
God has reserved to Himself!
Eternity may
refer to the desire and capacity people
have to understand God. God’s works will never be fully known. This does
not mean that since we cannot understand life’s riddles, life is without
meaning. However, God has made everything
beautiful in His time. This statement is one of the most important declarations
in the Old Testament. It not only affirms God’s sovereignty, but also His
compassion. Everything that God makes, or that happens, is the gift of God,
purposeful, to be desired, and appropriate for us.
God has also
set eternity (the world) in our hearts. God has created us with the ability to
appreciate the importance of what He is doing, even though it is beyond us to
reason out the significance of each event. However, in the spirit of Romans
8:28 we know that God is working all things together for our good only. In a world controlled by God (and not us) there
is nothing better for us to do than to enjoy the things that are present and
leave the future to God.
Solomon has concluded
that God has made everything beautiful for us and there is an appropriate time
for each activity. God’s works and ways are inscrutable to us and there is no
way in which we can solve the riddle of creation, providence, or the
consummation of the universe, apart from a revelation from God. We cannot
comprehend the great whole but only the parts (1 Cor. 13:9–12). Nevertheless,
God is working with the whole universe, and only in eternity will we discover
and understand the divine design (v. 11).
In the final
analysis, God has given us a desire for eternity and so we cannot be satisfied
with what is merely temporal. When we recognize our tragic limitations, we are
more open to the message of God’s supreme control. Let us therefore walk gently
and humbly before God.
The more we
know about God, the more humble we will
be as we recognize our own limitations and accept them as a fact of life.
Let us accept our limitations today and know that we cannot comprehend eternity fully. Let us also accept God’s perfect timing for events that happen in our
lives, and serve Him alone with godly reverence and humility. Remember, God has put eternity in our hearts for this
reason alone!
'For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.' (Isaiah 57:15)
