“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
Question: How have you experienced or seen that in your life?

Beautiful in its time

“Everything beautiful in its time” summarises verses 1 to 8, “A time for every purpose under heaven” (or on this earth). These verses were used for one of the most popular songs of all time, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds (listen here).

This also reminds me of a video on painting technique I saw, by Mark Carder from the US, which praised the style of Arthur Streeton. It showed close ups of Streeton’s brushwork of trees, which looked like just rough slashes and smudges, but then from a distance they fit into the overall pattern of a beautiful painting.
So it is with us, when we are close and immersed in the everyday turmoil, it is easy to miss its beauty, only when we stand back amd view with calm distance do we see its true value.

Eternity in our hearts

“Having eternity in our hearts” means we are not satisfied with the things of this world, because when we look at their meaning in the context of eternity, we find them wanting. They lose their value when viewed from God’s eternal perspective.

And that reminds me of Arthur Stace (Mr Eternity), who wrote his message to people on footpaths and walls and anywhere else he could find, with the single word “Eternity”. But that single word was enough to communicate a sermon to people, and a multitude of people testify to having their life changed on seeing his writings around Sydney — because they already have eternity planted in their hearts.

I have found some people with a keen business sense tend to value people in terms their commercial usefulness, and when I let it be known I cannot help their profit margin they move on – much to my relief, as I find that perspective is blind to the wonderful gifts given by God which can be very different to the commercial aspects of a person.
Another example is of guys whose work is their purpose in life, and when they retire, they find they are quite lost, stressed out with no purpose. Their perspective was of the 50 years of work, and they did not have an identity for their earthly life away from work, or for their eternal life before God.

Coming into relationship before God brings us more into his eternal perspective,

God’s ways from beginning to end 

No one can fully understand God’s ways, so, while we have been planted with that desire, it can never be fulfilled in this earthly life, as his ways are beyond our understanding. Throughout history, and in this modern world, whenever I see human plans to take the place of God, I see how it always comes undone.
Our desire to know the infinite can only be fulfilled by knowing God, who desires a relationship with us.

We cannot replace or fully understand God’s ways, but we can receive all we need by drawing close to him through Jesus, who sends His Spirit to live within us.