Not a Prophecy
11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Yesterday my son Wade sat on the ottoman with an old acoustic guitar. It was so big he practically had to wrap himself around it just to hold it, but he asked for a quick lesson. He had been messing with it for a couple of months. I showed him G, C, Em, and D, and within a few minutes he was strumming his way through them. It was choppy, sure, but you could hear the chords coming through.
My mind raced into the future. I decided he was going to be a worship leader. Four chords on a Monday afternoon felt like enough proof to map out his whole life.
I do the same thing with God: He shows me the next step, and I start planning the next five years. Ecclesiastes catches me in the act. God put eternity in our hearts, giving us a steady sense that life belongs to a story far larger than the piece we can see. We feel that reality, but we are only looking at a single, unfinished scene.
When the Teacher says God makes everything appropriate in its time, he doesn't mean every moment feels good or clear. Ecclesiastes has already given us too much crookedness for that. He’s simply reminding us that God's view of time isn't ours. We're living inside moments we can't fully make sense of yet.
Ecclesiastes also reminds us that no one can figure out what God is doing from start to finish. I struggle to sit with that kind of uncertainty. I want the explanation while the moment is still unfolding.
Wade may stick with the guitar, or it may sit in a closet by October. Yesterday was an unhurried moment, not a prophecy. It was just twenty minutes on an ottoman, showing my son four chords on a guitar that barely fit him.
You don’t have to figure it all out today. Receive the moment right in front of you and rest in His control.
Father, stop me from turning twenty minutes on an ottoman, or a single step in any area of my life, into a twenty-year plan. Help me sit back and enjoy four clunky chords today.
