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June 3 - Ecclesiastes 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's shown here. It's a Monday, it is the 3rd of
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  June and I'm so glad you've tapped on play and invited me in
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  to join you in your day. Hope you're doing well.
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  Hope the week ahead is looking like a good one for you because
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  it is going to be a good one because well, you and I have the
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  opportunity of sitting down together if you're running or
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  doing something active. Excuse me as I don't join you
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  because I'm sitting down right now, but we might spend some
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  time together in whatever posture we are reading through
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  the book of Ecclesiastes. And this week we're gonna read
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  up to Ecclesiastes chapter 6. Poor old people, poor old
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  scholars, they have struggled all through the history of
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  interpretation of this book to try and work out some kind of
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  theme or structure. And everyone has a different
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  opinion. But generally the only thing
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  that people can agree on is that the 1st 6 chapters really seem
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  to be struggling with the question of is there any benefit
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  for all of the hard work and striving that we seek to do
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  under the sun? Where does our true prophet
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  actually lie? So that's what the teacher, the
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  Koheleth, will be struggling with as we join him this
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  weekend. Well, I'm sure we've all thought
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  these thoughts and pondered these deep ponderings at times
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  in our lives. So here he's going to put words
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  to them as related together. In fact, he's going to put some
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  very, very familiar words to this.
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  The beginning of this chapter is one that you will all know I
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  don't might be reminiscent of certain periods in your life
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  when you've heard these words. So let's read together
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  Ecclesiastes chapter 3. For everything there is a
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  season, a time for every activity under heaven, a time to
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  be born and a time to die. The time to plant and a time to
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  harvest. A time to kill and a time to
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  heal. A time to tear down and a time
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  to build up. A time to cry and a time to
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  laugh. A time to grieve and a time to
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  dance. A time to scatter stones and a
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  time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to
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  turn away. A time to search and a time for
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  quiet searching. A time to keep and a time to
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  throw away. A time to tear and a time to
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  mend. A time to be quiet and a time to
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  speak. A time to love and a time to
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  hate. A time for war and a time for
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  peace. What do people really get for
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  all their hard work? I've seen the burden God has
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  placed on us all, yet God has made everything beautiful for
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  its own time. He has planted eternity in the
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  human heart. But Even so, people cannot see
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  the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
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  So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and
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  enjoy ourselves as long as we can.
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  And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their
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  labour, for these are gifts from God.
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  And I know that whatever God does, His final nothing can be
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  added to it or taken from it. God's purpose is that people
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  should fear Him. What is happening now has
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  happened before, and what will happen in the future has
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  happened before because God makes the same things happen
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  over and over again. I also noticed that under the
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  sun there is evil in the courtroom, yes even the courts
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  of Laura. Corrupt, I said to myself.
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  In due season, God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for
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  all their deeds. I also thought about the human
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  condition, how God proves to people that they are like
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  animals, for people and animals share the same fate.
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  Both breathe and both must die, so people have no real advantage
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  over the animals. How meaningless.
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  Both go to the same place. They came from dust, and they
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  returned to dust. For who can prove that the human
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  spirit goes up, and the spirit of an animal goes down into the
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  earth? So I saw that there is nothing
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  better for people than to be happy in their work.
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  That is our lot in life and no one can bring us back to see
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  what happens after we die. Our Lord, you are so much bigger
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  than we are. Your attention and all that you
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  are aware of stretches eternally both behind and before us.
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  And here we are with our little perspectives, unable to see
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  beyond the end of our nose often.
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  Jesus, may we look to you each step of each day, that as we go
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  through all the different seasons of our lives, with all
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  these different times, that we would day by day work for your
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  glory and celebrate your gifts. And that in itself is enough to
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  serve you and to be loved by you.
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  Thank you for the simplicity of that and the gift of that, that
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  you take the burden of being God from our shoulders.
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  We don't need to be God. We just need to serve our God
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  and be loved by our God. And so that is what we do.
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  Holy Spirit, give us the wisdom and the strength to do that
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  today as we go about all the things that we will undergo and
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  come across. And we pray all of this in the
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  saving name of Jesus. Ah, man.