Daily Devotionals

Devotional: September 25th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 3:4b-6a

We continue looking at Solomon's fourteen contrasts of life. (6) A time to mourn and a time to dance. We lose a loved one, and then, a year or so later, a family member gets married. Mourning is turned to dancing. Isn't this true of almost every family on earth? (7) A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. Some commentators believe this refers to the act of scattering stones over a difficult neighbor's field in order to hinder him from plowing; to then go out and retrieve those stones implies an act of sorrow or repentance. The thought here is that life is punctuated with periods when people seem to go out of their way to make it difficult for others, then they have second thoughts, and do everything they can to cancel out their provocative behavior. (8) A time to embrace and a time to refrain. There are times when every one of us needs the quiet embrace of a friend who whispers words of comfort. At other times we need not consolation but confrontation. We need to be faced with some hard truths. For life to be balanced, both must be part of our experience. (9) A time to search and a time to give up. How much easier life would be for some if they would learn this lesson and give up searching for something they inwardly sense will never be found. It's good to have hope, but hope must be based on something that is realistic. As someone once put it, "It's better to be a sane pessimist than a silly optimist."

O Father, how can I sufficiently thank You for helping me to give up searching for satisfaction down paths that were all dead-ends. I need no longer search, for I have found. All honor and glory be to Your peerless and precious Name. Amen.

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