Eternity in the Hearts of Men - Ecclesiastes 3:11

Welcome to Verse of the Day!

Today's Bible Verse:

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (ESV)

Today's Inspiring Thought: Eternity in the Hearts of Men

God is the creator. Not only did he make everything, he made it all beautiful in its time. The idea of "beautiful" here means "appropriate."

God has made everything for its appropriate purpose. In time that purpose reveals the beautiful reason God created it. "Everything" includes, well, everything. That means you, me, and all people too:

The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Proverbs 16:4 (ESV)

If we can learn to receive and accept all things in life knowing God has made each one for a beautiful purpose, even the most difficult and painful parts will become bearable. This is how we surrender to the sovereignty of God. We accept that he is God and we are not.

Aliens in This World

Often we feel like aliens in this world, yet at the same time, we long to be part of eternity. We want our purpose and our work to count, to matter, to last for eternity. We yearn to understand our place in the universe. But most of the time we can't make sense of any of it.

God put eternity into the heart of man so that in our longing and confusion we will seek him.

Have you ever heard a Christian speak of a "God-shaped vacuum" or a "hole" inside the heart that led them to faith in God? The believer may testify of that truly beautiful moment in time when he or she realized God was the missing piece of the puzzle that fit perfectly into that hole. 

God allows the confusion, the challenging questions, the yearning desires, all of it, so that we will earnestly pursue him.

Even still, once we find him and know that he is the answer to all of our questions, many of the endless mysteries of God continue to remain unanswered. The second part of the verse explains that even though God put within us a sense of wonder to understand eternity, we'll never fully fathom all that God has done from beginning to end.

We learn to trust that God has obscured certain secret things from us for a reason. But we can also trust that his reason is beautiful in its time. 

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