Birth and Death

My study in Ecclesiastes 3 continues.

Verse 2 says "a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,..."

I am going to divide this verse into two parts, it should be easy to tell where.

Part 1: "a time to be born and a time to die"
This is amazing. At first glance, the meaning behind this part of the verse seems simple. Every is born, and everyone dies - simple enough right? But it goes a bit deeper than that the more you study it.

Ephesians 2:1 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins."

In a Christian's walk, death comes before life. I was dead, buried in sin. I was separate from Christ because I was tainted by sin and it's filth. Without Christ, are we even really alive? No. Being born comes after death. Turning from living a life of sin to a relationship with Christ is where our life begins. Without Christ, your life is worth nothing. There comes a time when you die to your sin and you are BORN AGAIN in Christ. I know that for me personally, before I came to know Christ I walked around this earth thinking that I had all that I ever needed, but still feeling that there was something more to be had, something I wasn't seeing, some part of me missing entirely. When I was saved and started my relationship with Jesus, I felt more alive than ever! And I continue to feel more alive every day that I spend with Him.

Part 2: "a time to plant and a time to uproot" - NIV
"a right time to plant and another to reap" -The MSG

This is a constant for every Christian's walk, and one that we should all be able to grasp fairly easily. God is constantly pruning and chiseling us. There are seasons where God has to uproot things from our lives, and there are seasons where He wants to plant in your life, sow into your soul. Right now in my own walk, God is both doing some uprooting and some planting.

He's uprooting:
-selfishness
-loneliness
-dependency
-anger
-lust
-impatience
...These things are going to take time, and full surrender to Jesus.

He's planting:
-patience
-peace
-understanding
-passion
-full desire for Him!

And this is just the beginning. He has so much He wants to do with each and every one of us, if we will just allow Him to do so! What are you holding onto that is holding you back from Christ? Take it to the cross. God has to uproot some things in order to plant something else. And trust me, what He wants to plant is more beautiful than you could even imagine right now. Put your trust into the One who knows you more than you even know yourself.

God's Timing Is Perfect

The past few days, I have not been able to move from Ecclesiastes 3. If you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to do so. It is incredible and literally takes my breath away every time I read it. This chapter was one that a friend of mine recommended I read and study during my time of singleness. I had it written down to read, but I really wanted to start off with a different verse for this season: Isaiah 54:5. I wanted to really wrap my head around the fact that God is my husband, but He kept pulling me straight to Ecclesiastes and He isn't allowing me steer away from it, which is okay with me.

For those that know me, they know that I am an impatient person. I hate waiting around and I want everything NOW. God is breaking me of this, teaching me about His good and perfect timing. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in its time." I have been ALL ABOUT this verse; it's even the lock screen on my iPhone. I have been focusing on those words "in its time." Only God knows when the right time for something is. Even if we think we know what's best for us, or we think that what we want right now is what's best, only He holds that knowledge. For instance my thought process is usually "I need my husband. Right now. I know that now is perfect and we could have a great solid relationship if only God would make him show up!" But God knows that now is NOT the time for my husband to enter into my life. He has much to show me, much to teach me, much to break me from. After I did a little bit of wrapping my head around this verse, God told me He still wasn't done showing me that His timing is perfect, and there was still more He wants me to see. So I decided to study Ecc. 3 verse by verse.

VS 1: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Everything in this world has a time. Time is easily one of the most talked about things in our world. When? What time? What day? How long? Questions such as these are asked everywhere, by everyone, daily. It can be hard to let Jesus have everything when we as humans want to know the "when." But everything DOES have its time - and only God knows how long a season will last. The only way to have peace with this is to have patience. Like I said before, this is something that does not come easy to me.

            Psalm 40:1 "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned and heard my cry."

In this verse, the word waited really stands out. Waiting is so hard. But by waiting, having patience, and putting all of your trust in the Lord, not only will He bless you but you will see FRUIT! When you feel like you can no longer be patient, when you feel like you are having trouble understanding His will, when all you want to do is cry out and scream, rest in the Almighty One. He wants you to cry out to Him.