9–15 December 2018.

Ecclesiastes 3 (click to read).

Sometimes we find ourselves in a moment when everything is just perfect. Our plans have worked out, we have reached that goal we were after, we are together with the person we love, and our lives feel full of hope and peace. When that happens, we just wish that perfect moment could last forever! But we make that wish because experience has taught us that those precious moments don’t last forever; sadly they come to an end too quickly.

While all of us know that these perfect moments in life are temporary, many of us forget that the opposite is also true. No matter how bad things are going, no matter what troubles we are struggling with right now, those times are also temporary. They too will end.

That’s one of the great lessons that Ecclesiastes 3 teaches us. In the story of our lives there will be a time for everything. There will be times of happiness and joy, times of growth and dancing and success, but also times when we suffer through hurts and sadness. Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that those times are natural – but they are also temporary.

For those of us struggling through hard times right now, please don’t forget this good news. No matter how bad things may seem at the moment, this situation will come to an end. Every day God is working behind the scenes to lead us from darkness into light, to lead us from short moments of depression and despair into bright days full of hope, change, and expectation. Yes there will be times to weep and mourn, but those times are coming to an end; very soon it will be the time to laugh, dance, and rejoice again. That’s why Jesus can promise us in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Most importantly, this promise isn’t just an empty wish that things might get better sometime in the future. Those good times already exist and they are waiting for us. Ecclesiastes 3:15 tells us: “that which is to be, already is”! That hope we are looking for, that change we are seeking, that brightness of life we have been missing has already been created and prepared for us by God. It is real, and it is waiting for us. So no matter what troubles are happening now, remember to hold on! Because those good times God has already created for us are coming very soon.

Pastor Stephen Lakkis