Beauty in Season

Matt Williams | Aug 7, 2022 | Watch in español

Study Guide

In this beautiful passage, Solomon captures the dual nature of our world. Because of the fall, we live in the wake of God’s judgment, and there is suffering. However, we also get to enjoy good gifts from our Father. And ultimately, we have hope in Christ for an eternal reality with God that is far beyond anything we could ever imagine.
Application

  1. It’s easy to become frustrated with the broken nature of the world. What does it look like for you to rest in God’s sovereignty even in the face of difficulty and injustice? What fears do you need to release to God?

  2. We can have hope and security in Christ only if we abandon our earthly hopes. What earthly hopes are you holding onto—family, work, retirement, status, your children’s accomplishments? What steps can you take to abandon those hopes?

  3. Ultimately, we must fight our urge to be independent and seek to grow our faith in the goodness of our Father. How can you engage these ideas?

Key Points

  • Solomon uses the concept of time to illustrate the nature of our broken world and the lack of control we have over it. Time is like a road we are all trapped on, and it has certain characteristics—life and death, love and hate, war and peace, etc.

  • This list captures the tension we all live in. We experience both difficult and beautiful things. While we cannot escape or change the world, we can enjoy what God has given us in its season.

  • In the beginning, God offered humanity a perfect world, but Adam chose a different world. Since the fall, we have been under a curse. No matter how much effort we put forth, there is little return.

  • God has planted eternity in our hearts. Because we are made in his image, we know that there is an eternal, transcendent reality beyond this world.

  • The only way we can find hope in the relentless march of time is by looking to Jesus, who entered time and suffered, grieved, and died for us. When we abandon our earthly hope and attach our faith to him, we can follow him out of this world.

Other Scripture References

Genesis 3:17-19

Romans 8:22-23

2 Corinthians 4:17

John 13:36

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15