UBF Daily Bread

GOD PUTS ETERNITY IN OUR HEARTS

Passage: Ecclesiastes 3:1~22

Key verse: 11

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time^(A) for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,^(B)
³    a time to kill^(C) and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent^(D) and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil?^(E) ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.^(F) ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time.^(G) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom^(H) what God has done from beginning to end.^(I) ¹²I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³That each of them may eat and drink,^(J) and find satisfaction^(K) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^(L) ¹⁴I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.^(M)

¹⁵Whatever is has already been,^(N)
and what will be has been before;^(O)
and God will call the past to account.^[b]

¹⁶And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment^(P)
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”^(Q)

¹⁸I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.^(R) ¹⁹Surely the fate of human beings^(S) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^(T) ²¹Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(U) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²²So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,^(V) because that is their lot.^(W) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit

1. Everything is beautiful in its time (1-13)

God made everything beautiful in its time. There is a time for everything. When we live with eternity in our hearts, we can live according to God's plan and God's timing. And we can see beauty and meaning even in the simple activities of life. But if God is not in our hearts, we become like animals; we have no hope in heaven, and everything is meaningless.

2. Everything God does will endure forever (14-22)

We are dust and will return to dust. But this is not the end. The eternal God will judge the righteous and the wicked. He will call every person to account for the way he has used the one precious life God loaned him. The work we do in this life is just a preparation for eternity. If this world is all there is, life has no meaning. We must revere God, do his work, accept his gift of happiness, and put our hope in his kingdom.

Prayer: Lord, I am dust, but you have put eternity in my heart. Let me live and die by your time schedule.

One Word: Eternity in our hearts