By Chris WittsTuesday 19 Nov 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
The Bible talks about something that really is quite fulfilling in the sense that there’s a season, the Bible says, for every activity under heaven and earth. In fact, it says there is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to weep and a time to laugh. God has made everything appropriate in its time. There is a time for everything,
Well, we do often talk about time or the lack of time, or you say I just never have enough time. Well, we know that with infinite precision, time marches on, it never looks back and I have an idea. As you get older time just seems to go quicker.
Times and seasons
Sometimes it seems to hurry. Other times we feel the day drags on and there are situations when the hands of the clock seem to labour in that cycle of time and time drags by.
But I think it’s true to say that we measure life and its cycles in terms of time. We might say I’ve had a bad day or we might say, well, it’s been a good month. This year I’ve done well or my business has done well. Things have gone really well this month, and so we kind of gauge things by the span of time. The emotions of those days and the months, they also go in cycles because you think back on your life there’s been a cycle, perhaps, of love and hate. You’ve been angry. There could have even been a cycle of grief or celebration. There might have been a significant birthday or anniversary in your life or in your family’s life. And there’s been also the cycle of laughter and unfortunately, the cycle of tears as well.
Well, we could talk about Solomon, the wise man from the Bible, the wealthy king, he records his observation of life if you like in a diary, in the Book of Ecclesiastes and this man, Solomon, he actually was very interesting because he saw life as a series of opposing events or times. And that’s why he wrote in Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. Chapter three, 1 and 11, he said, there is a time for everything, and God has made everything appropriate. Although some versions talk about this as beautiful. God has made everything beautiful in its time.
And Solomon, this very wise man, believed that there was a time to weep and a time to laugh. Now, when you think about that, you’d say well, I really would prefer time/the days to be a time of laughter and joy, but of course, the reality is that in our lives there is also the time of grief and pain. And my guess is that you’ve also experienced a time of grief and pain. It’s really like being an invasion, hasn’t it? That’s come into your life, perhaps unexpectedly, the death of someone close to you. The death of a young person, for example, that pain and that can be physical pain, emotional or spiritual pain – it’s not pleasant. And of course, when pain comes, there are the tears.
But you know that tears can actually be a great teacher and can help us to turn our eyes to God. I’m reminded that it was the British author CS. Lewis, who used to say that pain is actually God’s megaphone because he whispers to us in our pleasure. But he shouts to us in our pain.
Malcolm Muggeridge says, contrary to what we might expect, he said, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful, he said, I look back on them with particular satisfaction. Everything I’ve learned has really enhanced my experience, and those things have been through pain and affliction and not happiness, he said. If it were ever possible to eliminate affliction from our daily existence, the result would not make my life delectable and pleasurable. But to make it too ordinary and trivial, I really wouldn’t want to endure it. So it’s interesting, isn’t it? Just as life without laughter would be intolerable, life without pain would be shallow, so everything is appropriate in its time.
Let’s Pray
Thank you, Lord, for those lessons from Solomon. Lord we find it hard to accept, but may we think about it, Lord, today and I ask this prayer in the name of Jesus our Saviour. Amen.