Let's go to the Lord again in prayer. Father, as we sang, we are reminded that the chief end of man is to glorify you, and to you all glory and honor belongs. We thank You that it's through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to You, that we who were Your enemies now have peace through the blood of Christ. We thank You, Father, that You redeem a people and all those that You bring out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Christ has promised He will in no wise cast out but raise up on the last day. And that is our hope and we long for eternity. We long for that day when there will be no more sin, no more misery, crying, tears, hurts, pain, sufferings. And yet we are to endure to the end. We thank you that you are a God who preserves your people so that we might persevere to the end. And no matter what comes our way, we know it is all from Your good hand. And so, Lord, I pray that Your Spirit, again this evening, might help us to understand Your Word, that You would illuminate our minds with these things, that we would see with understanding and then be able to rightly live it. To apply what You say and to do what You say is the life that we desire to walk in. And we cry out to You for the grace to do so. Bless Your people. Open our ears. Speak, Lord. May we receive it. May it be implanted in our hearts and bring forth the fruits of righteousness for Your holy namesake. And we pray all this in Jesus' blessed name. Amen. The theme of Ecclesiastes, as we had mentioned over and over, is meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless. If life is only viewed under the sun, that would be true. But there's an alternative view of life. That's the life from above, which says to man, enjoy your life. It is a gift from God. Ecclesiastes encourages those who study it to have that view, a God-centered view. Kohalath has been looking at life thus far from a purely self-centered focus. And now he begins contrasting that self-centered view with a God-centered one that will lead him to the conclusion of the whole matter in his epilogue, Fear God, Keep His Commandments, because one day everyone must give an account to Him. In this text that's been read for us this evening, we need to learn that through our lives we will be subjected to many, many frustrations. Nevertheless, we ought to enjoy the good things of life and live knowing that they have come from God according to His plan. Though those that are living under the sun have that big purpose that I said in my prayer that we sang in To God Be the Glory. Our chief end in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Now how this has worked out in each of our daily lives is another matter. By remembering that every day, no matter what comes, no matter what happens, no matter what circumstances we have to face, it is from the hand of God. He gives us life and everything that happens in life. You want to enjoy life? Then learn, out of respect for the Creator, to be content with His hand of providence and obey the laws which He has given to govern our lives. In other words, fear God. Keep His commandments. This is the way of a life that is meaningful, that overcomes the meaninglessness of a purely secular, under-the-sun type of view. The God-centered view is the only view that would help Kohalath to overcome his cynicism and his hedonism resulting in despair that he experienced by investigating something that he could find no answer for under the sun. In 18 to verse 23, last week he looked at work and came to the conclusion that he hated life. And that term life meant more than just his life. It was what he was about, the seeking and searching out what life's work is all about. This work, God has given to everyone to be afflicted with. That seeking, that searching out, that living before Him. And it is sometimes grievous. Everything that Kohalath accomplished, everything that he had worked hard to acquire in his life, he found out it was just going to go to somebody else, whether they would be a wise person or a foolish person. He had no control over that. So he comes to verse 24 and gives us a beautiful summary statement. There is nothing better for man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. There are two parts to tonight's message. The first one, verses 24 to 26 about enjoying your daily life. Daily life is to be enjoyed. And then in verses 1 through 11a, I may not get there. I'll watch the clock and hopefully not go beyond, but 3 through 111 is God's plan for living. There is nothing better for a man to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his work. There is nothing better for a man to eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. There is nothing better? Does he mean that that should be our goal in life if there's nothing better, that we go through life eating and drinking and enjoying what we acquire, our possessions? I don't think so. The context in which he has these words is that it's how we should view life with respect to our labor and the fruits of it. Any term in this context, good or better, has to be understood in that context. Here, good is not moral goodness. Kohalath is saying that this is the best way that man should go through daily living. It's how to enjoy and use good things that God gives to us. The best way. The way that you should enjoy eating and drinking and seeing your work as good. This is what he's advocating. A way of life not for one's own mere pleasure. It's already been shown to be meaningless. without any profit. But this is the way, the better way to view things coming to us at the end of verse 24. It is from the hand of God. Earlier, Kohileth, when he investigated, looking for pleasure out of eating and drinking, didn't find them satisfying in and of themselves. Now he says it's good. What makes things that are unsatisfying now as being something that is satisfying? The difference is his outlook. He's now seeing God's goodness. His view has moved from under the sun to that which is above, from above. That's the difference. Eating and drinking is good. But there's nothing really better than to acknowledge with thankfulness that it comes from the hand of God above. And then he says in verse 25 that no one, none are able simply to eat and drink and find any satisfying good in it without God if they don't take God into consideration. I know the New King James of it was read, didn't say without Him, but it's referring to the I, excuse me, I think I understand how Marco Rubio felt in the counter to the President's State of the Union and gets that point where you can't get words forming in your mouth anymore. No one can really enjoy good things from God apart from Him without acknowledging Him. If you are not enjoying your life, whether in work or at play, It's probably, no, I'd say it must be because God is not being rightfully thanked and acknowledged as the one who gives all things to His people. He gives them for our enjoyment, but if He's not in view, they are not enjoyable and they are meaningless. The biggest difference for Koaleth is that he stopped seeking pleasure as an end in itself. He's no longer just self-indulging. He is now seeing gracious gifts from above to be enjoyed. It's the same principle that Paul taught young Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4. If you care to turn to 1 Timothy 4, verses 4 and 5. Speaking of the great apostasy that occurs in later times, falling away from the faith, he says, "...everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. For it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." Paul's point here is not an argument for anyone to think they have a license to choose their own pleasures, if everything is considered good. But what he is saying is that the person needs to be thankful in receiving good gifts from the hand of God. There is nothing better for us as Christians than to thank God for His gifts. rather than desiring good things for ourselves that we think we're entitled to. That's a big difference. And I feel that there are so many people today that claim an entitlement that they have no right to say it's an entitlement, but to ask you might receive and then be able to give thanks for His gifts rather than simply desiring them as something thinking it's an entitlement. The only way that anyone will experience true enjoyment of anything is to recognize that it comes from God and then thank Him and give Him the glory. 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether you eat or drink, or work or play. Do it all to the glory of God, even your work. God has given you the gift of work. He first gave it to Adam and Eve in the garden. Work was part of God's original goodness to those He made in His image. God is a working God. So man, made in His image, has been given work and is able to find pleasure in it. Everything that God made, He ended with the refrain, God saw it and it was good. Dorothy Sayers says that work is the natural exercise and function of man, the creature who is made in the image of his Creator. It's natural. It's our function. Why we are here. So whether we're working, eating a meal, playing a game, reading a book, whatever we're doing, it is to be for God's glory. And when we do it with that motive, we're blessed. And then the blessing is actually something far greater. Christians can know the pleasure of God upon them. You remember Eric Liddell? Before he was a missionary, he ran the Olympics in 1924 for England. And in that movie, and I don't know because I didn't read the book, but the movie, he was asked about always running with his head back and his eyes upward. And his answer was simple to the question. He says, I feel the pleasure of God when I run because He's given me this gift of speed and I use it for His glory. Have you ever had that in your mind? that what you're doing, and you're supposed to be doing it for the glory of God, that God smiles upon you, that He says to His children, you're doing what I told you to do, and you're doing it for my glory. He takes pleasure in His children in that way. David, when he spoke about enjoyment of things because they come from the hand of God, says in Psalm 16 and verse 11, You, O God, will make known to me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. It's a powerful verse. It should be a motivating verse on why we do what we do. And he goes on in verse 26 and says, "...for to a person who is good in his sight." Now the word good is the same that he uses in verse 24, that there's nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his toil or his labor is good. It's the Hebrew word tov. It appears first in chapter 2 and verse 1, "...I said to myself, I said to my heart, Come now, I will test you, the heart, with pleasure, so enjoy yourself. I said in my heart, come, please, I will test you with pleasure and see what is good. That's the literal Hebrew. I said in my heart, come, I will test you with pleasure and see what is good. So he's putting pleasure to the test. It's with a purpose or a result in order to see what is the outcome? What will I discover when I put pleasure to the test? Can I understand what is good here? What did he discover? He discovered that pleasure, the legitimate enjoyment of life God gives us, is good. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and verse 15. Kohalath writes, So I commend it pleasure. For there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat, and to drink, and to be merry. And this will stand by him in his toils, in his labors, throughout the days of his life, which God has given him under the sun. He commends pleasure. He knows that it's good to enjoy the things God gives us for good. And it will stand by us throughout our whole life, all the days that He has appointed for us and given to us. But when people seek pleasure on their own under the sun for their own self-indulgence, it's never satisfying. It never will satisfy. but you will experience pleasures and true enjoyment of His good gifts when you receive them with grateful hearts and acknowledge that He is the one who has given them to you." God gives good things for His creatures to enjoy. In 2.22, Kohileth asks, What does a man get in all his labor, in all his striving in which he labors under the sun? What is my reward for all my labor? And now that he has brought God into the equation, he finds his reward as it says in verse 26. To the person who is good in his sight he has given wisdom and knowledge and joy." Wisdom, knowledge, and joy are the rewards for what labor man does. Not so for the sinner. Not so for the sinner. To the sinner he gives the task of gathering and collecting. so that he may give to the one who is good in God's sight." Twice is that phrase, to the one who is good in God's sight. We know, don't we, I hope, none are good, none are righteous, none are able to please God in and of ourselves. It's only when He, by His grace, adopts us as His children through Jesus Christ, who is good, and is the only one who is good, that that can even make any sense. God will, though, use those who are in rebellion to Him to achieve His own purpose. The sinner, no reward. But to the Christian, to the believers who are in Christ, good in His sight, they not only receive blessings and good things from God, but they receive what sinners gather and collect and work hard for all their lives. we will receive their labor's fruits. If not here, then for sure in eternity. Jesus says in Luke 19, 26, I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given. But from the one who does not have, even what he does shall be taken away. If you have faith, you are a believer in Christ. He will give you more. But if you are here tonight and you don't have Christ, what you think you do have, it will be taken away. This wisdom, knowledge, and joy, the wisdom that Kohalath is speaking about here is that wisdom that comes from above. It is not something that we can acquire. through our own efforts of pursuing it. Kohlileth already has shown us that. But it is that divine gift coming from above, and James defines it as that which is pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, meaning willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. That wisdom can only come from above, we can't acquire it. But notice part of that wisdom is the good fruits from our labor. We receive mercy, and because we've received mercy, what are we supposed to do? We are to live for the one that showed us mercy, to give him all the glory. And part of that is our good fruits. The good works that he has before ordained that we should walk in, we would walk in them and give him that out of gratitude. Man's enjoyment of life is only found when it's lived pleasing before God. I really like R.C. Sproul's definition of quorum Deo, before the face of God. We live koram Deo. We live before the face of God. We live before Him who sees all, who we are always in His sight. Koram Deo means in His presence, under His authority, and doing all for His glory. This is the way we can enjoy life, receiving it all from the hand of God. The last phrase in verse 26, this too is vanity and striving after win can only be referring to the sinner. To the sinner who works, gathers, collects only to give it to the believers. The final sentence, this too is vanity, is for the sinner who is without reward. According to God's divine order, people are to enjoy daily living. Enjoy life and the work that God gives you. And Christians alone have the reward of their work, not just the fruit of their work, but the work itself. Did you ever think of that? Your reward is your work itself, not just the fruit of it. Because we are made in His image, He works, we're to work. But it's not our work. This is the beauty of Christ and His completed work, His accomplished and finished work. It's a completed work on our behalf. Because of Christ's finished work, Everything that is done by the Christians can only be through His merits acceptable to God. We are His workmanship. We've been created in Christ Jesus for good works, and it is when we recognize that. That is the reward. Christ, He's our reward. Knowing His finished work has been attributed, accounted for us as righteousness. He still works today. In John 5, 17, He says, My Father is working until now. and I am working." How is Jesus working today? In and through His church. The ministry of the church is how Christ continues His work today. And we share in that good work. How? By proclaiming His gospel to all nations, to our neighbors. in praising Him for all of His blessings and praying for His kingdom to come and working for His kingdom to come. Just as important also is our everyday work and living. The tasks that we do every day, the mundane, common, ordinary tasks are ways that we work to bring glory to God. It's when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He adds all things to our life that He receives the glory. Martin Luther once said, the entire world should be full of service to God. Not only the churches, but also the home, the kitchen, the cellar, the workshop, and the field. The entire world should be serving the Creator. We are to enjoy life as it comes, because it's from God. And then Kohalath goes on in chapter 3 to give us the reason and explain why this is so. It's God's appointed plan that we see beginning in verse 1. There is an appointed time for everything. Everything. This is the world's most famous poem. Did you know that? On the subject of time. There's not another poem that excels this one on the subject of time. Who here remembers the birds? The few older folks go back to the 1960s, a great singing group, and they made Ecclesiastes popular. They made Ecclesiastes known among so many people with their song, Turn, Turn, Turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to reap, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to laugh, a time to weep, to everything turn, turn, turn. There is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. They never knew it came out of the Bible probably, but everybody could sing that. Everybody was quoting scripture and never even probably knew it. This summary statement in verse 1 is very important. A pointed time for everything and a time for every event under heaven. Put that with the other bookend in verse 11a. He has made everything beautiful in His time. There is a time appointed for everything, a time for every event under heaven because God has made it beautiful. Now this poetry, as beautiful as it is, has its critics. And they say that the message in it is very pessimistic. A time for this, a time for that, and nobody can do anything about it. Does that sound like pessimism to you? A time for this, a time for that, and you can't do anything about it? Well, those that see it from a God-centered view, those that have wisdom from above, find encouragement in the central doctrine that this passage highlights. And that is the doctrine of God's sovereignty. His absolute, total, complete sovereignty. The sovereignty of God and His predestination of all human events by His decrees. Christians rejoice that there is an appointed time for everything. Christians take comfort, be encouraged that there is a time for every event under heaven because God says He makes it beautiful. we'll see that the word beautiful can also be appropriate in its time. God is in heaven. Everything that happens in this time-bound universe that we are such specks of sand, nothingness in us, nothing happens except what God, who rules sovereignly, does from heaven. The catechism defines God's decrees as His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, by which for His own glory, which we have stressed, He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. His eternal purpose, the counsel of His will for His own glory being executed in time. God, who is outside of time, chooses all this in time. How does He execute His decrees, the Catechism asks? Next, by His works of creation and providence. By creation He made all things out of nothing that we see. His providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful, holy, wise, powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures. all their actions." You put those two catechism questions, what is His decree, and then how does He execute His decree? By His work of providence. His sovereign rule is so comprehensive that we see in this poem, it's through a series of parallel opposites that only strengthen its comprehensiveness. Two statements A time to give birth, a time to die. Two statements. They appear to be opposites. Live, die. But they're called a merism. When you put them together like this, it's a figure of speech in which two polarities make up a whole. For instance, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1.3. God created the heavens and the earth. What's that mean? It means all-inclusively He's created the entire universe. The whole is made up of these two terms. The heavens and the earth seem to be polar opposites. But it's put together as a merism, a figure of speech. So each of these pairs make up a larger whole. For instance, what does birth and death make up? The existence of one's life. That's the whole. A time to be born. A time to die. Your whole life's existence is between those two things. A time to weep. A time to laugh. That summarizes a whole range of emotions. He rules. He reigns sovereignly over every minute, every second, every moment of our lives. God reigns. Do we believe that? Do we live like we believe that? Man is to live his life day by day knowing it's from the hand of God and that it's for a fitting time that each thing is done. We're responsible to be able to discern what is the right time, what is the right action. When do we do what is right? According to God's time, Wisdom is what we need to be able to live this kind of life. Otherwise, we would probably find ourselves frozen, unable to act. I don't know whether it's right to do it or not. I don't know whether this is the right time or not. And we would become paralyzed rather than saying, thank you, God, in this moment that You've given me and You've made it for Your purpose. It's a fitting time. And so we are led by His Spirit and His Word. The light of Scripture, the Spirit working, we can walk through life rejoicing, thanking God, praising Him, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5. Pray without ceasing. Keep that communion with God. Rejoice always. And in everything give thanks. This is God's will for you. It's not hard, folks, is it, to put in a formula, but to live it every day, to live it every day, we need to go to Him in the morning, as we were told again this morning. Don't wake up without saying, Lord, may today be the day that I live to Your glory. doing what you've given me to do, called me to do. It's easy. That's how we live. And then it's called beautiful. Two points as we go through this list. God does everything just at the right time. That's the first point. God does everything at just the right time. Second point, while the events concern human activities, they are things God does. You see, God is not an either or God. God is both and. He is both the giver of life and the taker of life. God is the God who gives us suffering that we weep, and He gives us pleasure that we laugh and rejoice. He's both and. He's not an either or God. So verse 2, we have life from a cradle to a casket. Every birth will be followed by death. None escape. God brings life into the world. God is the one who has appointed when that life will come to its end and be removed. Job said to his Creator, the number of my months, he says, is with You. You have appointed my limits, and I can't pass them. So true. Martin Luther, though, said it a little bit simpler to understand. You cannot live any longer than the Lord has prescribed, nor die any sooner." Planting or harvesting. There's a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. Now in the Old Testament, the idea of planting and reaping absolutely were used by God's dealings with His people. He planted His people to be a fruitful vine. Israel was to be a fruitful vine that He planted. Well, what happened to this vine that was not fruitful, that rebelled against Him, that started to sin in idolatry and departed from God? What happened? He uproots them. And they go into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. He plants them to be a fruitful vine. When they weren't fruitful, He uproots them. They go into captivity. But God is faithful to His promise. And He brought them back. And He plants them again. And then, how long was it before they were uprooted when Jesus says, the kingdom of God is taken from you and given to another nation who will produce the fruits of repentance and righteousness? He will bring all into His kingdom that He gave to His Son before the foundation of the earth. They are the true vine. They are the ones that are in Christ. He plants us in Christ and He'll never uproot us from Him. We are secure in Christ and we will be throughout all eternity. But God is involved in the planting and the uprooting. He's also involved in the killing and the healing. There is a time to kill. and a time to heal. Similar, there is a time to tear down and to build up. God's complete work includes both creation and devastation. In His order, He has a time for Him to kill as well as a time to heal. In other words, He says in Genesis, When man takes man's life, he needs to be put to death. There is a time to kill when man commits capital crimes, capital punishment calls for him to be put to death. And then there's also a time for skilled medical care where the body can be healed. That time for healing can also mean broader the healing of a nation that 2 Chronicles 7, 14 prayed for, Lord heal the land, heal our nation. His plan includes acts of mercy as well as his acts of judgment. Moses was personally told by God in Deuteronomy 32, verse 39, there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Verse 4 begins to make a progression of intensity conveyed between the first line, a time to weep and a time to laugh, and the second line, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Sorrow and joy are both a part, a big part of our lives. Because without one, the other would never be recognized. Do you realize that? If you never had a sorrow, you would never be able to experience what joy is. If you never experienced joy, you would be mournful your whole life. The other has to be there. Verse 5 is the only verse that has uncertainty by the commentators as to its meaning in line A. The Midrash, Rabbah, takes it to refer to sexual union, to throw stones and a time to gather stones, using a lot of Hebrew linguistics. while others really say that the casting of stones is what you do to your enemy. You throw all the rocks in your field so they can't plant and grow food and that way you starve them and make them weaker when you go to battle. And then there's a time to gather the stones out of your own field to prepare it for planting so you may have your food. I'm not going to say how I think you should interpret it. The throwing of stones and the gathering of stones and then embracing and a time for shunning embracing have a hard time going together if it's talking about stones. But we can say that this idea to a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing is a relevant reminder for many today that there are standards that God has given regarding sexual conduct. There is an appropriate and there is an inappropriate between people. And those standards that Pastor Thomas again reminded us today are fixed. They are God's standards. And man has no right to mess with. Verse 6. A time to search and a time to give up as lost. A time to search and gather, to acquire. It forms a part of your life. You search for it. You acquire things. And then, lo and behold, you lost it. How many times have we experienced that in our lives? I know I bought this and I know I brought it home, but why can't I find it? I can search the house all over and sometimes you just say it's lost. Verse 7, there is a time for tearing up and sewing back together. This could be referring to a funeral service. In the time in which it was written, folks to show their sorrow and mourning would tear their clothes. And then they wouldn't want to just throw them away. They would take them home and stitch them back up together because it's fixed with a time to be silent and a time to speak. Sometimes in the funeral home, and the grieving people are there, sometimes it's best just to be silent. And then, after you've provided your comfort, you can leave and now you can not only sew your clothes back up, but you're free to speak again as at other times. A time to love and a time to hate, they're both needed. Why? Why is there a time to hate and why is there a time to love? Why are they both listed here as polar opposites and yet comprising the whole? Because of God's hatred for that which is evil and God's love for His people and that which is good. We are to love the good. hate the evil. It's right and good in God, and therefore we must also oppose and hate every wicked deed and pray or seek that it be brought to judgment." As His people, we must learn to hate what He hates and to love what He loves. What does the Lord hate? Well, He reveals to us in Proverbs a few items that He hates. A haughty eye, a proud eye, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, one who spreads strife among brothers. That's a list of things that God says He hates. We would be well advised to look at this list and examine and make sure we are not in an activity of any kind that God says He hates. A time for war, a time for peace. There will be wars and rumors of wars until Jesus returns. We are living in wartime. Not just what we see going on in our world, but their spiritual warfare as well. But they're both connected with the same source. They both come from Satan. who is in utter rebellion and out against God, creating all of this strife and the things that war springs up from. There is time when there is to be a war, when righteous people or righteous nations are fighting to protect their own people and to find justice against oppression. It is what we would call in our country a just war. And I think that we need to pray that our leaders might begin to search their hearts and understand again what is a just war. But for the Christian in our warfare, we don't use missiles and whatever else's implements of war. Our weapons are the Word of God and prayer to fight Satan. we must take up the armor that God gives us, praying at all times in the Spirit for all Christians to be strong. The peace we won't see, perfect, lasting peace on this earth until the Prince of Peace ends the conflict by His coming. So we accept these polar statements Each pair, because they are the truth about God, they reveal to us His character. He, the sovereign ruler, is who He is. He makes time for every matter under heaven. Everything that we see in this poem is keeping with His character. Birth and death, mourning and laughing, love and hate, embracing and exclusion, war and peace. It's because they are appointed by God and a time for every event that He has made beautiful in its time. What prophet is there? He says in verse 9, What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men, with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything beautiful. or appropriate in its time. He goes back to the subject of work after this theme of the sovereignty of God, that there's nothing better than we understand He is our God, He is sovereign, He gives good gifts, we receive them, we enjoy life, and we live for His glory. But when he goes back to work, he's still wondering, what is the advantage to work? What is my return? What am I going to get from my investment in it? And He gives us the answer in these two last verses. It's a task which God has given. So take it and enjoy it. There is nothing worse for the believer to be disgruntled and to hate work that God says is to be good and to give you the job. Especially when we see unemployment as it is. We should not today be so picky about the jobs that we're in. It's something that is to be received with thankfulness again. It's because He's given us this task, this work to do. But it's not that we just have to stop there. He goes on in verse 11 that He has made it appropriate or beautiful in its time. When we begin to see God's sovereignty, His work of providence, there is a time for everything, and God always does things at the right time. If you understand that, if you know that what He has given you is the right thing for you at the right time for you, you should be able to enjoy it. Do you believe this in your work? Do you believe He has given it to you in exactly this time? It should be pleasing to you. It should be good to you. It should be beautiful or appropriate. The word beautiful in the Old Testament always was connected in the older parts of the Old Testament with sight, seeing something. But in time, the word in its usage began to have a wider range of meaning that it began to also have the meaning of pleasing or appropriate as it is possibly, I believe, used here. Pleasing or appropriate, not just beautiful. God is said to have beautiful timing. He knows when it's time to tear down and when it's time to build up. He knows when it's time to keep or when to throw away. He knows what time it should be for war and for peace. And it's not just saying that God somehow, you know, when it says that He made everything beautiful in its time, that at the beginning when He made creation that it was beautiful in His time. No, it's the way that He continues to rule over what He made. It's His absolute sovereignty that makes verse 11a, He's made everything beautiful, appropriate, pleasing in its time for His own glory. That's how we need to understand this text tonight. Nothing better than to grasp this concept of His sovereignty, His goodness, His acts of providence on your behalf to give you everything you need for life and godliness, His plan for your life, to live it, to enjoy it, submit to His sovereignty. Submit to His sovereignty. There's no other way for you to be happy than to trust and obey. Trusting in His sovereignty, His will, good, acceptable, and perfect as it is, and obey Him. and then believe, believe that He has made everything appropriate in its time. Think of His work for our redemption. Galatians 4, 4, in the fullness of time, when it was right, He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. Then think of Romans 5, where He also died for our sins at the right time. At the right time. He laid down His life for His people. It was not taken from Him, but it was on the exact day and time that God had ordained it to be done. And He did that out of His mercy and love for sinners like you and me. Are you grateful tonight for a sovereign God who makes everything beautiful in its time? Let's pray. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. How great and an awesome God You are to have given us this portion of Your Word that's not just beautiful poetry, but helps us to come to grips with your divine sovereignty. Everything that is seen and unseen you have made and for your own purpose they have been created. Even us made in your image and you said that when you made man in your own image it was very good. And then man rebels and sins against you and loses. But you have been merciful in saving a people while in their sins Christ died for them. How we thank You tonight for the Lord Jesus. How we thank You for His death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf. May we live in the light of who we now are in Him. May we now live in the light of making our chief aim in life being pleasing to Him. so that whatever we're doing, we do it for Your glory and feel His pleasure upon us, that it is all by His grace anyhow. It's not by us or our strength, it's by Your Spirit working. May You continue that work that You begun to its perfection, complete it as You promised us, And then one day we will see you face to face and be like you and be with you. God, the rest of this verse will tell us that you put eternity in our hearts and we long for it. Help us to be weaned off the things of this earth by looking full into the face of Jesus Christ and His wonderful grace. Bless us as we leave this place that we would be a blessing to all that we encounter in the week ahead. And Lord, make us ready ready to give an explanation for the hope that is within us of how great You are, how merciful You are to save sinners. In Jesus' name, Amen.