Post by Les on Jun 5, 2023 12:54:59 GMT -5
Seasons By: Sheridan Voysey
Click here for the Audio Message[/u]
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 3:1–14
I recently came across a helpful word: wintering. Just as winter is a time of slowing down in much of the natural world, author Katherine May uses this word to describe our need to rest and recuperate during life’s ‘cold’ seasons. I found the analogy helpful after losing my father to cancer, which sapped me of energy for months. Resentful of this forced slowing down, I fought against my winter, praying summer’s life would return. But I had much to learn.
Ecclesiastes famously says there’s “a season for every activity under the heavens”—a time to plant and to harvest, to weep and to laugh, to mourn and to dance (3:1–4). I had read these words for years but only started to understand them in my wintering season. For though we have little control over them, each season is finite and will pass when its work is done. And while we can’t always fathom what it is, God is doing something significant in us through them (v. 11). My time of mourning wasn’t over. When it was, dancing would return. Just as plants and animals don’t fight winter, I needed to rest and let it do its renewing work.
“Lord,” a friend prayed, “would You do Your good work in Sheridan during this difficult season.” It was a better prayer than mine. For in God’s hands, seasons are purposeful things. Let’s submit to His renewing work in each one.
Reflect & Pray
When have you wanted a season to end before its time? What do you think God wants to do in you this season?
Father God, thank You for using every season for Your glory and my good.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
While some dispute Solomon’s authorship of Ecclesiastes, there’s good internal evidence to support it. In Ecclesiastes 1:1 we read, “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Solomon was the only son of David to reign as king in Jerusalem, though the author identifies himself as “the Teacher” or “the Preacher.” Whereas Solomon’s sayings in the book of Proverbs offer wisdom for life in a broken world, Ecclesiastes focuses more on the difficulty of living in such a world.
Bill Crowder
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
King James Version
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
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.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
.............................................................................................
Our Daily Bread Evening Meditations - The Lord Remembers
Short, uplifting evening meditations from God’s Word to help you refocus your heart on the Lord at the end of each day. Experience His peace as you “lie down and sleep” with the assurance that “you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
Click on this next link for this evenings podcast - The Lord Remembers
Click here for the Audio Message[/u]
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 3:1–14
I recently came across a helpful word: wintering. Just as winter is a time of slowing down in much of the natural world, author Katherine May uses this word to describe our need to rest and recuperate during life’s ‘cold’ seasons. I found the analogy helpful after losing my father to cancer, which sapped me of energy for months. Resentful of this forced slowing down, I fought against my winter, praying summer’s life would return. But I had much to learn.
Ecclesiastes famously says there’s “a season for every activity under the heavens”—a time to plant and to harvest, to weep and to laugh, to mourn and to dance (3:1–4). I had read these words for years but only started to understand them in my wintering season. For though we have little control over them, each season is finite and will pass when its work is done. And while we can’t always fathom what it is, God is doing something significant in us through them (v. 11). My time of mourning wasn’t over. When it was, dancing would return. Just as plants and animals don’t fight winter, I needed to rest and let it do its renewing work.
“Lord,” a friend prayed, “would You do Your good work in Sheridan during this difficult season.” It was a better prayer than mine. For in God’s hands, seasons are purposeful things. Let’s submit to His renewing work in each one.
Reflect & Pray
When have you wanted a season to end before its time? What do you think God wants to do in you this season?
Father God, thank You for using every season for Your glory and my good.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
While some dispute Solomon’s authorship of Ecclesiastes, there’s good internal evidence to support it. In Ecclesiastes 1:1 we read, “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Solomon was the only son of David to reign as king in Jerusalem, though the author identifies himself as “the Teacher” or “the Preacher.” Whereas Solomon’s sayings in the book of Proverbs offer wisdom for life in a broken world, Ecclesiastes focuses more on the difficulty of living in such a world.
Bill Crowder
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
King James Version
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
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.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
.............................................................................................
Our Daily Bread Evening Meditations - The Lord Remembers
Short, uplifting evening meditations from God’s Word to help you refocus your heart on the Lord at the end of each day. Experience His peace as you “lie down and sleep” with the assurance that “you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
Click on this next link for this evenings podcast - The Lord Remembers