Today’s scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Keith Phillips):
A half century ago, in 1965, a San Francisco band, The Byrds, recorded a rendition of a Pete Seegar song, “Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There Is a Season),” which topped out at the #1 position on the charts. (Some of you may feel pretty old!) Not bad for lyrics which are straight out of the Bible.
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8, which “Turn, Turn, Turn” quotes, is part of the Old Testament wisdom tradition and rather simplistically affirms that all of the “times/seasons” of life are according to God’s determination, not ours. The passage on which today’s Be Still and Know is based immediately follows those verses and, taking them into consideration, asks the rather blunt question, “[So] in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does?” (verse 9; The Message). Whoa! That should give those of us who are Type A personalities a bit of a pause! We’d much rather believe that our own hard work and sound choices make a difference in our personal lives, even if we don’t see them transforming the whole world.
But as much as we’d like it to be otherwise, we know that it’s true: our God is sovereign, period. The calendar has been filled in by God, who sets the times for the activities of our lives. We are simply fooling ourselves when we think we are in control. So, beyond submitting to God’s will in our lives, “in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does?” Pretty futile, isn’t it?
But the writer of wisdom takes that futility a step further, when, first, he affirms the goodness of what God does, and second, he adds a cosmic twist: “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of [humanity]; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (verse 11; NIV). What could be more frustrating? God created us human beings with a sense of concern for where life is leading, the why of it all (something that, I assure you, my standard poodle, Forest, doesn’t have), but we have no capacity to fully comprehend the big picture from eternity’s perspective. We are driven to want to understand, but we can’t. That’s for God alone.
So where does that leave us, according to the writer of Ecclesiastes? “I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it — eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift” (verses 12–13; The Message). The writer is advocating carpe diem, to seize the day.
An Assumptionist priest friend of mine used to call it, “holy resignation.” I am called to live my life in submission to God, responsibly enjoying what God has given to me; and I am humbly to leave the rest of the cosmos for God to handle.
Thought for the day: What a revelation with which to begin a new year! Life is not up to me. God, who loves all of us, is in charge; and God is sufficiently omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent to take care of us all!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.