The Grace Street Blog

“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.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

This past Sunday, I heard a sermon preached on Ecclesiastes 3 for the first time in a while. This book is truly one of my favorites as it wrestles with the thoughts I too had and still have on my journey towards Christ.

The pastor highlighted the common feeling of hopelessness this world has as we strive to find purpose in things that won’t last forever. Not because they aren’t good sometimes, but because our hearts were created with a longing for more. More than anything this world could offer.

The main point was to challenge yourself to look “above the sun“, as everything under the sun, aka; anything of this world alone, is meaningless without a perspective rooted in God.

Honestly, this message resonated a lot with me as it took years to realize how our hearts can see purpose in such a broken world while being so broken ourselves.

And as he read over verses 2-8, I started seeing the significance of the statement, “there is a time for everything“.

I think it is necessary to consider that without a God-centered mindset, we will struggle to find a purpose strong enough to push us through life when it is rough, but I would claim that our trust in the character of God is what will get us through the reality of life being filled with seasons. There is a time for everything, but it’s not a time-line we quite understand.

In the last few years, I have refused to uproot things I knew God was calling me to. I held onto mourning when God was showing me how He’s freed me. And I have tried to speak and force meaning from ignorant words when God was teaching me to listen.

It is a difficult thing to step into something new when you are so used to or content in what you’ve been living in.

But one thing I noticed as I look back, is that in those moments of rejecting the new season God was calling me to, as if I knew better than Him, I struggled the most to see purpose. I feared new things while standing in an overgrown season that was doing nothing but strangling every ounce of hope out of me.

I have carried this way of thinking for years, preventing me from allowing truth to guide me out of a time of mourning towards one of healing, dancing, or rejoicing. And it led me nowhere.

Trying to pull significance from the brokenness of this world without thinking that God’s hope, redemption, or grace could be a possible outcome, truly did seem…meaningless.

Then the other night, I was wrestling again with my doubts and thoughts as I tend to, and it was as though I experienced a portion of this chapter.

After sitting, letting my weariness come out in tears, I looked at the dresser in my room. Though it was a different one than the one I had as a teenager and I am in a different home, the memory of God’s grace is the same. It was the place where He would meet me on my worst days. It was the place I would envision Him sitting beside me with our backs against the drawers, not talking. Just sitting there with me. Not to degrade my struggles, but to comfort me in them. To show me He does not wait at the end for when I figure it out, but walks through it all with me as my refuge during these storms.

When you’re in the depths of sorrow, it is so hard to see or believe that a time for joy is on its way. But that’s what scripture points to. On this side of heaven, we have the opportunity to experience God’s comfort, mercy, and hope in ways we only can learn through hardship. And on the other side of heaven, we have eternity with this gracious and loving God promised to us.

So whether you are in a high or low season, experiencing hope is not for the few. The hope offered by Jesus is available to all. I am sure if you’ve been around other Christian’s long enough, you’ve heard a few mention that God does everything for a reason.

Though I believe He gives purpose to all situations, never letting a season be of waste, the practical side of me wrestled with the “how” we ought to live trusting that.

And that other night, with frustration and doubt flooding my mind, questioning why I endure the things I’ve endured, I was reminded of others. Others who struggle the same way I do. Others who never heard the name of Jesus. And others who He so willingly died for.

By the grace of God, every high and low that I’ve experienced has not only placed me in the spot I am in now, but molded me into the person I am as well.

And though my life is no where near perfect, I am surrounded with opportunities to love others in such a unique way because of what I’ve experienced. Because I’ve witnessed some of these “times for everything.” And because in every new season, I have witnessed a new side of God I never knew existed.

Confident of the caring God I saw in sorrow leaves me in awe and praise when I stand in joy. Hope that I found in the God who gave me belonging and identity allowed me to walk through uncertainty with a bold belief in my providing God. And the faithful forgiving God that I experienced when I got saved in 2013 fills me with rest and peace that He who loves will never leave regardless of all that I am. And with a new confidence in the way God is, He has allowed me to share joy, hope, and grace with others.

My dear friend, burying yourself in an overgrown season will bring anything but comfort after so long. You were made, created, filled with a deep passion for the things beyond this world. Purpose that can only be revealed by God. But to get through the reality that seasons leave us in is only possible when you let go of the limited human perspective and trust not only in what God can do in and through you, but also in who He is. It’s then, trusting in His character, that we find a freedom and hope regardless of whether we are on the highest mountain or in lowest valley. May we not get so caught up in where God has us, but in what He is revealing about Himself through it and how He wants us to share His love with others during it.

Thoughts To Consider:

What season are you struggling to leave behind, and why is it so difficult to let go?

Are you more focused on understanding why this season exists, or on knowing the God who is walking with you through it?

What has God revealed about His character through your current season?

Consider that a season only becomes meaningless when we miss the God who is present within it.

“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.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11