A Time For Everything

God, in His infinite wisdom, has ordained a time for everything, even things we might classify as bad. It's difficult for our human brains to comprehend why some seasons of our lives turn out the way they do. Consider the following:

There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NIV)

It's all too easy to think of at least one part of each equation as a negative--dying, uprooting, killing, tearing down, weeping, mourning, scattering stones, refraining, giving up, throwing away, tearing, silence, hating, war. And on their own they are negatives.

But in God's kingdom, things are never as they seem in the earthly realm. He commands us to love when hated, to pray for our enemies. In His economy, He allows difficult times for reasons we can't comprehend and has promised to bring good out of them (Romans 8:28). While we may never understand hard times this side of heaven, we can trust our God--who is always good, right, and loving--to make everything right in the end.

So when you're going through a season not of your choosing--a season where there seem to be more negatives than positives--cling to the truth that God holds all time in His more-than-capable hands and will bring good out of it.

My times are in Your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! (Psalm 31:15, ESV)

Father, though we find it so difficult to do, help us to praise You in difficult times, knowing that You are a good and loving God. Show us how to spread our sails when the wind sets itself against us and how to grow and flourish when our roots have been plucked from the ground. Teach us to dance and sing in the midst of grief and mourning, because You work all things for our eternal good. Amen.