Join us as we uncover the profound truth that God’s hand is in all aspects of life. Through engaging discussions and spiritual insights, we examine how seemingly challenging times are not indicators of divine disfavor, but rather parts of a greater design. This episode invites listeners to explore beautiful examples from the Bible, illustrating how God’s timing and purpose are woven throughout history, providing a call to trust and seek the Lord wholeheartedly.
I wonder how often we put things in a category bad and conclude that that means that God is really not blessing us, that God somehow is against us and he is hurting us, that he doesn’t love us as he once did, when in reality the Bible says there’s a time and a purpose to everything that God is doing.
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Thank you.
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You’re in touch with hope for today. You know, we’re quick to label seasons of life as good or bad, blessing or loss, progress or setback. And too often when something hurts, we conclude that God must be against us, that his hand has turned away, that his love has somehow changed and we’re out of his love. But Ecclesiastes chapter 3, Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells a different story. Scripture says there is a time and a purpose for everything God is doing. Even the seasons we would never choose for ourselves. Today, Bible teacher David Hawking continues his study from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 as God’s Word teaches us to trust the Lord not only in the seasons we call good, but in every season He appoints. And we’ll be back in Ecclesiastes 3 in just a moment. First, we want to let you know about a free resource available to you. And this is going to provide some additional encouragement to you, particularly if you’ve gone through a rough season or maybe you’re feeling kind of dry and distant from the Lord. This is a free booklet on our website called Revival Now. Revival Now is written by our good friend Richard A. Bennett. It’s a free download from the homepage at DavidHawking.org. You’re going to find inside this book a clear and biblical call for true spiritual awakening in a time of confusion and compromise. Again, you can download Revival Now free of charge by visiting our website, DavidHawking.org. It’s right there on the homepage, DavidHawking.org. Let’s go back into Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 through 15 now. And here’s David with day two of A Time for Everything.
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God knows everything. He’s in providential control. And the writer here, Solomon, is leading us step by step to some definite conclusions that all of us need to apply in our lives but frequently don’t. The fact is, whether you like this or not, God has a time and a reason and a purpose and a season for everything. And that definitely, if I’ve got to acknowledge that that’s true, that he has a reason for all that happens in my life, then that suggests, has to suggest, theologically, logically, philosophically, it has to suggest that he is in control. Doesn’t matter what you think about it, it has to be true. You know, David said in Psalm 31.5, my times are in your hand. How true that is. But there’s a second thing that I believe this suggests. It not only suggests that God is in control, which is a matter of the providence of God, but it suggests that God has a specific purpose behind all that happens. And that, of course, would deal with the purpose of God. Now, is that so? I know a lot of people that say this. In fact, it’s in plenty of books if you want to read in this subject. But they’ll say something like this. Well, God has over all, catch word, over all purposes. But you can’t say he has a specific purpose. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that. The Bible teaches that God has a purpose for everything. He does whatever he pleases and his purpose is behind everything. Ecclesiastes 3.1 says that. You see, the purpose of God behind everything is clearly taught over and over again. Let’s take Joseph, for example. Here he is in Egypt. The brothers have really done him in to put him in Egypt. You remember the whole story. Throwing him down in the pit and selling him to slavery. Now come to Genesis 50 when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers who think he’s a monarch of Egypt, don’t know who he really is. And when they finally find out, they’re scared to death that Joseph now is going to kill them. And Joseph says in a classic statement on the sovereign control and purpose of God, he says in Genesis 50, verse 20, You see, God even takes the wrath of men to praise his name. God can raise up a pharaoh as rebellious and stubborn and awful as he was, and he can glorify and magnify his name throughout all the earth. God is not limited by anything or anybody. God is in absolute control of all things. He has a purpose behind everything that’s happening. If you don’t like the story of Joseph, consider Esther for a moment. Esther, that fantastic story of a Jewish gal who became the queen to a Persian monarch. And she got this message from Uncle Mordecai. He said, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And as the story proves, all of Esther is a commentary on the proper timing of God, how God placed somebody in an unusual position, in an unusual relationship, that many people would have questioned and said, hey, that’s not going to work. But God placed her there because he had some purpose in mind in relation to the people of Israel. She literally saved the Jewish people from destruction. Who knows whether you’ve come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Who knows whether this day in your life is a turning point in some area you don’t even see now? God has a purpose for all things. I’d like you to turn to Acts chapter 16. Let’s just see some New Testament examples of this. I think too many times when things don’t go well for us, we immediately interpret it as being God’s against us. Things aren’t turning out well. I’m not liked or appreciated. I’m not accepted. God must be angry with me. You know, the things that run through your mind when something doesn’t go well for you. And yet the Bible teaches that God has a reason, a purpose behind everything that’s happening. David said in Psalm 37, 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He lays them out, blow by blow, step by step, moment by moment. They’re all ordered by God. Now look at Acts 16 as an example of how the purpose of God… is being fulfilled in the changing circumstances of life. Verse 6, Paul and Silas. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Now here’s something they wanted to do, and they couldn’t do it. You say, well, how did that happen? We don’t know. Maybe it was a detour sign. Maybe it was bad weather. We don’t know. But we say that it was forbidden by the Holy Spirit. God was working in it. It says, “…after they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, another northern region in modern Turkey today. But the Spirit did not permit them. How or through what circumstances, we don’t know. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas, the only way they could have gone. So they’re coming over now on the western shore.” And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Now look at that. Here were some changing circumstances. God stopped him from doing something. Now he could have got discouraged and say, the Lord’s against me. The will of God’s not working in my life. Everything’s turning bad. Or he could have said, as he did, hey, the Lord knows what he’s doing. God stopped us here. There’s going to be something else. And he concluded that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia and Achaia, modern Greece and Yugoslavia today. Interesting, isn’t it? I wonder how often we put things in a category bad and conclude that that means that God is really not blessing us, that God somehow is against us and he is hurting us, that he doesn’t love us as he once did, when in reality the Bible says there’s a time and a purpose to everything that God is doing. This is very important to understand. Over in chapter 17 of Acts, look at verse 26. Chapter 17 of Acts. Here Paul is preaching to a secular crowd at Athens on Mars Hill at the Areopagus. And in Acts 17, verse 26, he lays this out and says, He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times… And the boundaries of their habitation. Now before you go on any further, I want to ask you a question. Do you believe that God has predetermined exactly how long a nation will be in power and exactly how much geography they’re going to conquer? That’s what Paul said on Mars Hill at Athens to a secular crowd. Do you believe that? That means however long a certain government or nation is going to be in power, however much territory they’re ever going to conquer, God is already predetermined it. You tell me God’s not involved in the affairs of men? Now, why does he do this? Why has he divided people up like this? Why has he worked through history with nations? And what is his plan? Verse 27 shows you that he has a purpose behind everything. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. That’s interesting. The changing structure of nations even is a part of God’s plan to cause those nations to turn to him and to repent and to believe in him. You see, God has a purpose in everything that he is doing. 2 Peter 3.9 says that we should not count the Lord delaying the promise of his coming as just slackness on God’s part. But the Bible says he is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I could ask the question, well, God, if you’ve got such a great purpose and you’re going to come again, then why don’t you come now? And the answer is God is delaying this, not because he’s not involved. He has an exact time schedule in which Jesus Christ is going to come again. Why is he delaying it? And the writer says, because he’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He knows exactly how many people are going to come to repentance. All that are going to come to repentance are going to come to repentance before the Lord himself comes. All of this, friends, is going to have serious implications in our life if we really believe it. Some of you right now are kind of generally agreeing, but maybe not facing the specific application that Solomon is leading to. Do you really acknowledge that God has a reason for all that happens? If you do, then that suggests his providence, that he’s really in control of everything. And it suggests his purpose, that he really has a basic reason behind it all. And by the way, it suggests a third thing. It suggests also that God can cause things to happen whenever he wants. So it involves his power, not only his providence, his control. It involves his purpose, his reasons, and it also involves his power. He obviously, if that is true, can cause anything to happen at any time he wants to whomever he wants. Now that’s an interesting thing. Take your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 18. Let’s just take a look at that particular matter. Genesis chapter 18. Can God cause anything to happen at any time he wants to to whomever he wants to? And the answer is clearly yes in the scriptures. And thus we again must acknowledge that God has a reason for all that happens in our lives. And he can cause everything to happen whenever he wants to. Genesis 18. You know, one day I was trying to contemplate this. Think about it, as I’ve done frequently, and I began to think about how God must manage people on a daily basis. For instance, traffic. I know you probably think I’m weird here, but my mind’s flipping up there. I’m trying to see what God sees, and I’m thinking of managing traffic. That it must be tougher in some cities of the world for God’s management than it is in others. Because you can imagine how if he’s got a purpose for everybody, how he’s got to be, you know, working everything out so that it happens. See, if John over here is going to have an accident, he’s got to have a reason why the other guy who was in there to have an accident had it, and why another guy that was behind him didn’t because he has something else for him tomorrow. You following? Hey, I don’t know if you think like this, but maybe you ought to. Do you believe… that God literally is behind everything that’s happening. Most people don’t. They’ve got him like Thomas Jefferson as a deist. He sort of winds a thing up and lets it run down. He really stays out of our way. Is that true? Is God involved in the affairs of our life, or isn’t he, one way or another? This is very important to understand. In Genesis 18, 13, and 14… You know, Abraham and Sarah, what a story, 99 and 89. God tells them we’re going to have a kid. You’d laugh too. Here’s what they said. The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? Saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time? Look at the timing again. I will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son. You tell me God isn’t involved. That tells me God can cause things to happen whenever he wants to. Even things that from a human point of view seem unbelievable to us. How could that happen? But God caused it to happen. Turn please to Job chapter 42. Job, right before Psalms. And look at chapter 42. That God can cause things to happen whenever he wants to. Job 42 and verse 2. Here Job is answering the Lord after the Lord has given him a great lesson on his power, on his involvement in all things, and on what he can do. And Job says this, verse 2. I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. Do you believe that? Boy, God sure liked what he said. He blessed him abundantly after he finished this little speech. I wonder, do you do the same? Do we honor and worship the Lord like that? Do we say, Lord, I know you can do everything. And I know that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. That’s what I call confidence in a God who’s involved in the affairs of men. I may not understand all of this, but I know the Bible clearly teaches it. Turn please to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. Here’s one that we love to quote, but it’s rooted in the fact that God’s power can do anything. And it has enormous effects upon us. Isaiah chapter 40 and look at verse 28. Isaiah 40 verse 28. Concerning the greatness of God and his power and that he can cause anything to happen whenever he wants. Verse 28, have you not known, have you not heard, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, which is a delight to every old person. And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. You know, it has practical application in my life if I really believe that God can do anything, that he can cause anything to happen whenever he wants. He’s got power. He never gets tired, never fails, and he can provide power anytime he wants to. God’s in absolute control. In Daniel 2, it tells us that he puts up kings and takes them down. He’s even in control of times and seasons. And the Bible even says he changes them whenever he wants to. I love it when he messes up the weatherman. And if you notice that carefully, he does that frequently. The Bible says he takes fire and wind and earthquake and snow, fulfilling his word. He loves to do whatever he wants to do, and he changes it frequently. Man gets to where he thinks he knows how certain things are going to happen, and God messes it all up. It’s interesting, isn’t it? I wonder how much of this we really believe. There’s a great quote by a writer of long ago, Merle Dobine. In looking at Ecclesiastes 3, he said, “…those revolutions which in their progress precipitate dynasties and nations to the dust, those heaps of ruin which we meet with in the sands of the desert, those majestic remains which the field of human history offers to our reflection, do they not testify aloud to the truth that God is in history?” Arthur Gibbon, seated on the ancient capital and contemplating its noble ruins, acknowledged the intervention of a superior destiny. He saw those ruins and he said he felt its presence. Wherever his eye turned, it met him. That shadow of a mysterious power reappeared from behind every ruin in Rome. He conceived the project of depicting its operation in the disorganization, the decline, and the corruption of that power of Rome which had enslaved the nations of the world.” And shall not that mighty hand, which this man of admirable genius discovered among the scattered monuments of Romulus and of Marcus Aurelius, the busts of Cicero and Virgil, Trajan’s trophies and Pompeii’s horses, be confessed by us also as the hand of our God? See, the truth is, people, all that we see in the world, the past civilizations of history, the nations of the world, the sequence of time and events, all point to one thing. God is in control. He’s doing something that most people do not recognize or want to believe. We must acknowledge that God has a reason for all that happens in our lives.
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That’s Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a moment or two to close out our time in the Word. Just before that, Matt Hawking is here, and together we have a powerful resource that will help you bring all that you’re learning in our current Ecclesiastes radio series together.
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Solomon was the third king under the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. He is called the wisest and wealthiest king among all of Israel’s kings and leaders.
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He was noted for building the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. In fact, the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall that’s there, you’ve been there, I’ve been there, many of our listeners, what a great place it is to visit. He built that temple that was eventually destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC.
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You know, at Ecclesiastes, Solomon lays before the answer to one of life’s most important questions we can ask. Is life worth living?
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If you leave a personal relationship with the God who created you out of the answer, then the answer is clearly no.
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Yeah, it’s not worth the struggle, which inevitably comes to all of us. But if you see all of life as God intended and you are rightly related to him, then the answer is an absolute yes. Yes, amen. Well, David makes the biblical case for this inside his book, Is Life Worth Living? Is Life Worth Living is a powerful study guide for the book of Ecclesiastes and a perfect tool for getting the very most out of our current radio series.
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We’re combining the book with a complete collection of all of the messages in the Ecclesiastes series. So the 172-page book by David titled Is Life Worth Living plus all 18 messages in our Ecclesiastes radio series. And, of course, each message covers about three days on radio.
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Yeah, the complete package is just $40 plus shipping. It’s a perfect way to save and share all that you’ll be learning in the series for years to come. And your purchase will also help the ministry of Hope for Today. That is Life Worth Living Ecclesiastes package. Again, just $40.
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Consider adding a donation with your order or becoming a regular monthly contributor as long as God directs and supplies. And please pray for Hope for Today. Want in? Here’s how. To get your copy of this powerful resource, call 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. 888-75-BIBLE. In Canada, Bible by the numbers 24253. And you can also grab this resource, the package, online at davidhawking.org. Right before David comes back, you know, this ministry does not run on empty words or good intentions. It moves forward only as the Lord provides. And as the new year opens up in front of us, it matters that we start strong financially, clearly, and without hesitation. If God has been using the Bible teaching of hope for today in your life, and if you believe that uncompromised Bible teaching still belongs on the air in a confused and compromising world, well, we’d like to ask you to prayerfully consider sending a special financial gift of support. Send one this month or become a regular monthly supporter as God provides and directs. Listen, your gift helps keep this broadcast going, keeps God’s word unfiltered, and helps set the course for the months ahead. To make a donation, call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, online at davidhawking.org, or write to us at Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the U.S. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO 7 Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And thank you for standing with us and caring about the truth of God’s Word. Well, it’s promised. Here again is David.
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Well, we’re in Ecclesiastes 3. I like to say that because some of us really are in it. We’re asking, why are the things happening in my life that are happening as they are? And sometimes they’re very difficult. They don’t make sense. And we wonder if God’s in this or not. Well, that’s what Ecclesiastes 3 is all about. We need to appreciate that whatever happens in terms of our time on earth, this chapter argues that it is a gift from God. If he’s in control and he knows all the days of my life, I need to enjoy it from his point of view. That will affect my attitudes as well as my actions. And I need to apply the facts that are coming to me and I’m experiencing to my attitude towards God. And that’s what we are seeing here. We are to fear God and understand that that respect and adoration and worship of him is fundamental to knowing his peace in the midst of changing circumstances. And life is like that. I think also we have to face the fact that chapter 3 tells us God requires an account. We need to enjoy it, but we need to remember God’s going to hold us accountable for what we do in our lives. So keep that clear. And I hope that you will get our commentary. I think it’s very, very helpful. There are a lot of questions that you have that are answered in our commentary. Is life worth living? God bless you and plan to be with us for our next broadcast.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, David. Well, thank you for listening today and join us next time right here on Hope for Today.
