What Time Is It?

Daily Reading: Ecclesiastes 3

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3.1)

Devotional Thought: As I grow older, I appreciate warm weather more and more.  One morning last week, I whined to Lana, my wife: "It's going to get cooler for a few days."  She reminded me, "It is just the middle of January.  It's still winter!"  I tried to adjust my thinking and realize that mid-fifties were really not bad for this season. 

This helped me to appreciate what the writer of Ecclesiastes was getting at: There are seasons in life...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3.1-8)

What season are you in?  Whether you are old or young, strong or weak, successful or "failing" - remember you are in the hands of God and are moving toward an eternal spring!

Prayer: "I trust in you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God. My times are in your hand.' ... Make your face shine on your servant."  Amen.  (Psalm 31.14-16)

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 10.16-18

16 The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.

17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.