CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecclesiastes 3:11. In His time.] This is the emphatic part of the sentence. The fitting time is one of the chief elements in the ways of Providence, which raises in us the thought of an Infinite Wisdom. Also He hath set the world in their heart. The world here should be rendered eternity—i.e., the universe considered as duration—as that which is extended in time. It is because man has eternity in his heart that he is able, from the observation of Creation, to form an idea of “His eternal power and Godhead.” So that no man can find out the work that God maketh. Men have an idea of God and His immense dominion; but the details of the method and circumstances of His Sovereign rule are but imperfectly known.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
SOLACE FOR THE TROUBLED MIND
The mind is perplexed by the difficulties of Providence—the seeming disorder of the world. Hence the heart is troubled with care—that tenacious, wasting disease of human nature. We can only seek solace in well-assured, immoveable truths.
I. That all human care must be unavailing. (Ecclesiastes 3:9.) Where are the results of all the cares, labours, and anxieties of men? When the final reckoning is made, where is the profit? The widest observation of the scene of man reveals the uselessness of care, and of the trouble of the mind at the contemplation of the antagonistic elements composing the scheme of Providence. (Ecclesiastes 3:10.) Why is it that our care and anxiety are of no avail?
1. Because we cannot lift the burden of vanity from man’s life here. There is a fatal disorder in the system of things in which we play so important a part. All our care cannot remove it.
2. Because we cannot force the seasons of Providence. We are as powerless to change these as we are to change the natural seasons of the year. We cannot be joyful when the hour for mourning arrives. All the gradual and violent changes in human things will take place despite all our care. We should, therefore, seek the solace of the inevitable, and the shelter of a love which, whatever happens, shall never fail the righteous. Weakness, ignorance, and imperfection must fall helpless into the arms of the Infinite.
II. The exquisite skill of adaptation to be observed in the Divine Plan. (Ecclesiastes 3:11.) The infinite wisdom of Providence is most to be observed in bringing forth His purpose at the fitting season. All the movements of the Supreme Governor are timed with accuracy.
1. There is a fixed method. There is an established order for everything which God has made, and all His purposes are exquisitely fitted to the times in which they are produced. God needs no system as we understand it, for this is only the refuge of imperfect minds. We need system to classify our ideas, and to make them portable for the memory. Infinite wisdom is above the necessity of this device, and can only use method.
2. There is a fixed aim. There is nothing purposeless in Providence, no movements at random. All is sure, steady, and accurate. Every purpose moves with sure aim to its proper end. Evil itself is made to further the good purposes of God. The well-timed order of the system of Divine Providence should be to us a comforting portion, sufficient to allay our anxiety and to assuage our sorrow. Confusion and disorder would only generate despair, for they could not conserve the good that might by chance arise; but we have everything to hope for from wise method, and fixedness of purpose and aim. If we are true and good, our deepest aspirations will have their proper season, and be brought forth in a light which will lend them a beauty and a glory.
III. The inability of the human mind to compass the whole designs of Providence. (Ecclesiastes 3:11.) No man can trace the work of God all through its mazy course. A little portion of it is before us, but the extremes of it are lost in the immensity of the past and future.
1. We are ignorant of the whole plan of Providence. We may indeed know a part of it. This much St. Paul teaches us is within our grasp; and from what we know, we may form a dim prophecy of what we may expect. Yet to adventure to explore the plan of God, as a whole, would take us beyond the depth of our understanding. We only see the work of God in the course of its progress, but we cannot see the plan of it, nor the glory of the finished purpose.
2. We are ignorant of the several ends contemplated by Providence. We know in general that the true, the right, and the good, will be brought forth into the light and vindicated; but what other ends group themselves around these, and are intimately interwoven with the whole scheme, we know not. There must lie outside the region of our knowledge quite an infinity of possibilities of which we cannot form even the first draft, or rude outline of an idea.
3. We are ignorant of the reasons of God’s dealings. The long dominion of evil, the afflictions of the good, the disordered mixture in the life of humanity, must be accepted as an impenetrable mystery, notwithstanding all our efforts to find a sufficient reason. God does not always answer the question of His people. “Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me?”
4. We are ignorant of the future. We cannot tell where any purpose or work shall have its end. We cannot enter the secret chambers of heaven, and steal from thence the unpublished volumes of the Book of Providence. Men of science cannot tell the destination of the material universe in space; and where this present system of things shall end, and how it shall be disposed of in the final crash of doom, we are alike ignorant. Yet our little knowledge ought to be consolatory, and it will be so if we are only careful to assure ourselves that it is but a little. God reserves for Himself enough to keep our souls for ever in the attitude of adoration. We can only have peace and hope in the worship of the Highest.
IV. The hopefulness inspired by a sense of the true grandeur of man. (Ecclesiastes 3:11.) “God hath set eternity in their heart.” He has placed within the soul of man a power capable of infinite expansion. These God-like properties constitute the true grandeur of man. Such a distinction conferred upon us should inspire hope, and allay anxiety. This gift comprises:
1. The power to contemplate the Divine nature. We cannot comprehend fully the nature of God and His dealings. They still wear the robe of mystery. Yet, because we have this great gift of eternity within us, as a disguised or pent-up force, we are able to know something of God. We could not entertain the idea of God unless He had first made us God-like by such an immense gift as this. It is our privilege to be “partakers of the Divine nature,” and to partake of that nature is to know it to that degree.
2. The pledge of immortality. Man’s destiny in the future is thus bound up with the eternity of God. The destination of spirit is to run parallel with the existence of the Supreme. The desire to live eternally is a portion of the Divine image. Only for this infinity within us, religion would be impossible, for it deals with eternal life.
3. The capacity for unlimited improvement. The investment of the heart with eternity is a kind of force given in elastic measure. It has reserves of power which will be developed throughout eternity. It is the property of a creature with this endowment to make progression towards a limit placed at an infinite remove. God will keep that limit still ahead of us. The soul’s eye will never be permitted to approach too near to the intolerable light. We should console ourselves with reflections upon our true grandeur. However mean and obscure our present condition, we may hope for distinction and honour when we are advanced to the light of God. The heritage of the noble and the good, however obscured here by poverty and neglect, is divine in glory and duration. He who can realise that he is the heir of immortality carries with him through life’s saddest journey the balm of sorrow and the ease of care.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecclesiastes 3:9. Nothing is to be reckoned the true profit or advantage of a man’s work but that which is permanent, and will abide with him as nothing earthly can do. Only the graces of God’s Spirit abide in the exercise of them with the saints in death, and their good works abide with them through all eternity in the gracious reward of them [Nisbet].
All labour that does not increase the riches of the soul must prove profitless in the end.
Ecclesiastes 3:10. God hath appointed the changes of time that man may be exercised in them, either wisely and willingly to His praise, or else unwillingly and foolishly to his torment and vexation [Jermin].
Before the hour comes, thought and labour are lost. But we are nevertheless to labour, each in his sphere and with diligence. God commands this; if we hit the hour, things prosper; if we do not, nothing comes of it, and thus no human thought avails. They, therefore, who would anticipate God’s hour, struggle, and have nothing but care and sorrow [Luther].
It is often expedient for the teacher to allow his pupil himself to grapple with the difficulties of knowledge, for thus his mental devices are stimulated, and the true foundations of science are laid. So God gives severe exercises to man, that he may know his true position, and learn the ways of wisdom.
God does not teach us by imparting knowledge which we have but passively to receive. He sets humanity some hard exercises, which they have painfully to work out by the experience of this rough world.
No worldly position, however exalted or outwardly happy, can exempt a man from exercising his mind upon the painful problems of existence.
The path of spiritual knowledge is traced with difficulty through uncleared and tangled regions. God has laid down no “royal road.”
The long processes of Divine teaching, through so many seasons of time, have their special purposes in the education of humanity.
Ecclesiastes 3:11. Not only has God made everything, but there is a beauty in this arrangement where all is fortuitous to us, but all is fixed by Him. That season must be beautiful which to infinite love and wisdom seems the best [Dr. J. Hamilton].
Not only the works of Creation have a lustre and beauty in them, but even those works of Providence which seem blackest unto men have a great deal of ravishing beauty. Joseph’s being sold, Job spoiled and plagued, Daniel in the lion’s den, Christ betrayed and nailed upon the Cross—these and the like, although, being looked upon as in the hands of instruments, they seem to have nothing but deformity in them; yet, being looked upon as God’s works, and according to His intent, and the result of them, they have a ravishing beauty in them, and many of His fair attributes written upon them [Nisbet].
The works of Providence have the prime elements of beauty—fitness and adaptation.
To know a life, we must partake of it in some degree. Unless our Creator had set “eternity in our heart,” we could entertain no idea of “His eternal power and Godhead.”
We have the power to discern the eternal behind this transitory scene.
Man here exists but in a mean condition. He has powers which eternity alone can unfold. The human soul is like a seed wherein unborn forests sleep.
Man findeth not out to what end all those things are done, until himself come to his end. Then he shall understand it, for either the mercy or the justice of God will show it unto him [Jermin].
We only see the system of Providence in the making, and not as a completed whole. Therefore we can only discern the mere rudiments of what shall be; no complete or extensive knowledge being possible to us. “The house that is a-building looks not as the house that is built,” says the proverb.
We can only see, at a time, but an inconsiderable part of the ocean, so that we can never take a view of it as one great whole. In like manner the ways of God can only be seen in small portions. Their vastness overtasks our powers.
Eternity casts upon the whole course of time the shadow of mystery. We have enough light to work by, but not enough for complete revelation.
The creature of a day cannot be expected to grasp those vast designs stretching from creation to the final destiny of all things.