When we look at someone’s scrapbook, photo album or read someone’s diary, particularly our own, we recognize something remarkable about that sort of writing. It’s the kind of memory making and writing that is at once transitory and at the same time very real. It’s like reading a very good poem. Here’s a lovely little poem by one of my favorite poets William Carlos Williams.
Nantucket
Flowers through the window
lavender and yellow
changed by white curtains—
Smell of cleanliness—
Sunshine of late afternoon—
On the glass tray
a glass pitcher, the tumbler
turned down, by which
A key is lying—And the
immaculate white bed.
Isn’t that beautiful? Can’t you just smell the ocean breeze wafting through the window and feel the cold water coursing down your throat after you’ve poured that chilly water into the tumbler. It’s a beautiful, inviting moment.
But all of us know that that moment is fleeting. In the next minute the phone might ring, and word would come that your nephew was just killed in Iraq or that your child has been taken to the hospital or that your husband wants a divorce. Terror, betrayal, sorrow all in an instant.
The reverse is true as well. You could be sitting in a hospital waiting room fearing the worst. The doctor comes out and says that your father’s cancer surgery was successful and that he is recovering well. Or the banker tells you that they are willing to refinance your home at a lower rate and you know that the door has just been slammed in the face of foreclosure. Jubilation, relief, joy. All in an instant.
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes is well acquainted with the transient nature of our human experience. When you read the entire book of Ecclesiastes you see remarkable candor and insight. And you see the wrestling match between what he thought should be and what actually seems to be. In this great reflection on the human life, the writer pens this splendid poem.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Isn’t this how life really is for us? There are seasons in life when we experience all the good that seems possible. And there are seasons in life when dark and heavy curtains cover all the windows of our homes and hopes, leaving us in pain and sorrow. When we read this wonderful poem, we have to nod our heads and say, “Yes, yes, I know. I’m very familiar with that pattern.” The rise and fall of human experiences are true for all of us. And we just keep hoping that it will stay on the upside. But we know it won’t always be the upside. A.F. Harper in his commentary on Ecclesiastes puts it this way:
It is clear that man’s life is not simple. It is a complex of interacting and changing forces that require one response now and a different response under different circumstances. We do not always like the changing scene but wisdom requires us to adjust to it.[1]
So, this ancient source called Ecclesiastes keeps us real. The writer of Ecclesiastes tries to come to terms with these variances in many ways. There is a wrestling with the meaning of work, love, pleasure, knowledge, wisdom and human relationships. The writer, very apparently, was a person of some means to be able to explore all these things without boundaries. And yet, what is found is meaningless—everything, that is, unless you read the whole book and catch the glimpses of springtime, the sparks of grace, and the foundation of truth the lies beneath it all. The ancient door cracks open. It creaks on its hinges and light starts to stream through.
Read these great words from verses 9-14.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I 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.
The temptation in our time on this earth is to put too much stock in the variances of emotion and circumstance. Read a young girl’s diary or listen to a family member in a hospital waiting room and we have to acknowledge that there has got to be something more than this present happiness or this present trouble.
And indeed, there is. There is God. He is the God of summer and sinter and fall, and always the God of spring. Spring is when new life is resurrected, when color bursts through the grays and browns, when the meaninglessness of life takes on meaning again!
The presence of God in our lives—when we accept him as our Savior, Redeemer and Friend—is the anchor in the great sea of life. He has made everything beautiful in its time. If we trust in our own emotions or the ability to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, if we reckon that we’ll just get through this somehow, we are not recognizing the great broad and beautiful brushstrokes of God in our lives. The Bible, God’s living and active word, reminds us that God is over all and through all and in all!
This is where we have to come to terms with what we believe about God. Is he good? Is he eternal? Does he have our best in mind? Oh my, yes! He is and he does. For you see, if God did not have our best in mind, he would never have set eternity in our hearts. He would never have designed us to enjoy the good moments in life, nor would he have designed us to be sustained by his power through the dark and difficult passages.
The writer in Ecclesiastes tells us why God has put limits on our understanding, why he permits us to go through difficult times. Did you miss that? God has given us all the joys and struggles of this life for one reason alone—so that we would revere him, honor him and trust in him alone.
When we look at our life and wonder why things aren’t as good as they used to be, or we become so willing to hang on to the good times that we sacrifice our trust in God in order to cling to that moment—which shall be but a moment—we lose sight of the bedrock which holds us firm—the great hand of God himself. God who sees all things and knows all things, will sustain us and give us springtime again in his perfect and beautiful time.
The seasons of Christ’s life were not unlike our own. Jesus demonstrated this for us. I imagine the days of his feeding the thousands and healing the sick and releasing people from demons was a glorious time. I imagine that the moments he touched those with blindness, deafness, and leprosy were so real and so full of joy. And I imagine that the moments when the nails pierced his hands and feet, and he could barely draw a breath while hanging on that cross, were very real. And I imagine that when he came up from that dark and cold tomb the joy of being alive again and the reality of having saved people from their sins was just as real. The writer in the book of Hebrews reflected the truth found in Ecclesiastes centuries later.
Hebrews 12:2-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
When the writer in Ecclesiastes had grown tired and weary of pursuing wealth, freedom from pain, great knowledge and sensual pleasures just for their own sakes, he found that the God of springtime is always there. The word pictures collected there are profound and applicable to all people everywhere all the time. Believers for ages have come to know this truth that we can know today. No matter what happens in this life—both the good and the bad—God is always with us. The horizon is bright as the Daystar himself opens the door to let the sunlight in. And when all of the variances of this life pass away we can spend an eternal springtime with him.
Amen.
© M.R.Hyde 2023
[1] Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 3 The Poetical and Wisdom Literature, Beacon Hill Press, Kansas City, MO 1967.
