Have you ever been listening to the radio and an “oldie but goodie” comes on? You start to reminisce about back in the day. If you are like me, you will Google the song, to see when it first came out. Have you ever been shocked to discover just how long ago it was actually released? You then shake your head in amazement at how fast time fly’s.
In Genesis, the very first thing we see God create is time, not light. Over the course of six days, He forms the heavens and the earth. At the end of each day, God’s purpose for that day is completed. In a previous blog, we explained why God took six days as opposed to doing it all in one day. In Genesis 1:14, we find the answer. God was establishing the principle and the pattern of “times and seasons.” It is important for us to understand this principle and pattern for our lives. No season (good or difficult) lasts forever. In this regard, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, affords us tremendous insight.
Most everyone has at least a passing familiarity with this chapter. The idea being communicated is that there is a time and a season for every purpose. We learn that there is always a beginning and a fulfillment to a season. No season will last forever. Notice how the writer gets this point across to us. In verse two he begins to use a literary device called a “couplet”. (This is where you pair two things together to express an idea or to form a complete thought). He says, “A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot.” He is pairing together polar opposites, positives and negatives, gains and loses. On one end there is a birth on the other end there is a death. He is speaking of the beginning and the fulfillment of a season. Notice I did not say “the end of a season” but rather the fulfillment of a season. For every season of our lives, God has a purpose.
Also notice, I said “gains and losses”, “positives and negatives”. I did not say “good or bad”. We will suffer losses in this life. All losses are not “bad”, painful as they may be. They serve God’s purpose for us. There are something’s (and people) that we would never voluntarily let go of or move on from.
Whatever season we are in, (good or difficult) it won’t last forever. Know that while we are in it, God is at work, fulfilling His plan and purpose.
As God moves us from season to season, we need to invest our time wisely; so that at the end of each season His purpose has been accomplished. And when we look back, those past seasons will become oldies but goodies, as we reminisce on all of what God has done in our life. And we will say to our self “time sure does fly”.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor. 4:17-18
Here is a cover by Al Green called "Funny How Time Slips Away"
