The Longing We Feel

As we saw yesterday, Solomon’s famous poem in 3:1–8 describes life as a swiftly flowing stream. It carries me relentlessly forward like a leaf—or a Sweetgum-ball!—first past one season and then another. As I am swept along, I have no control over this stream of time or the seasons through which it takes me. Time never slows or stops. I just have to take whatever comes next, knowing that it won’t be long before I’m around the bend to something new. I suppose that for some people, this could sound like fun. But for most of us, helplessly hurtling through life’s constant changes like an acorn on a white rapid is not a comforting image!

Solomon expresses the frustration we can feel: “What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with” (9–10). Even for believers, life can feel like a burdensome “business” or “task.” I’m always busy, constantly running and hustling from one thing to the next. But for what!? There is no gain. No purpose. I’m just a hamster in a wheel, running furiously but getting nowhere. Meanwhile, God can feel as aloof and inattentive as that old Bette Midler song: “God is watching us…from a distance.” Not comforting!

Solomon puts his finger on the longing we feel: “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” (11). Solomon assures us that God is in control and knows exactly what he’s doing in our lives. He is directing every event in my life with meticulous care—making everything beautiful in its time! The problem is, I can’t see this beautiful thing he’s doing! It’s like watching a marching band at a college football game. From up high, the Sky-Cam reveals the band is following a carefully coordinated routine, spelling out “Go Vols!” But from my vantage point on the sideline, I can’t see that! All I can see down here is a blur of orange uniforms going by. In the same way, Solomon says we lack the perspective we need to see what God is doing in our lives.

Let’s shift the metaphor. If you are in Christ, God is weaving a beautiful tapestry out of your life (Rom 8:28). He is using many different colored threads in this masterpiece—some bright, some dark. If we could peek over his shoulder, we would see God’s exquisite design, artistic skill, and tender care in every detail. But we can’t see it. We want to see it! Dogs don’t care about this kind of thing, but God has put eternity in my heart so that I ache to see the final picture! (11) But I can’t. I’m down here underneath the tapestry—where all I can see is a shapeless, tangled snarl of knots. It doesn’t look very beautiful to us! But though we long to see what God is doing in our lives, he simply will not give us the full view in this life. God’s frame is too large for us to take in. We just have to trust.

These truths are threaded straight through the Bible’s storyline. It is only years down the road that Joseph can look back on his suffering and say, “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20). Job never got the answers he demanded, but he learned to worship a big, wise God. The Psalms are filled with bewildered believers submitting to a sovereign Lord (you might read 73 or 131 for starters). Sometimes we say, “one day I’ll know the reason for this,” as if there is only a reason. But this sells God short! He is always doing a billion things at once, as he connects our lives to a grand story only eternity will reveal. In the meantime, take a posture of humble trust, wait on him, and worship.

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church