He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV
If you are like me, you may find it challenging to read Ecclesiastes. And maybe even a little depressing. It is easy to get the impression that what we do really doesn’t matter all that much. We all end up in the grave in the end. So you are better off just enjoying your life as much as you can during the few years that you have here under the sun.
But all is not doom and gloom. Ecclesiastes is an inspired writing that God has given to us for a purpose. I believe it reflects a more limited understanding of God than is found later in the Old Testament, and throughout the New Testament. But it still has something to teach us.
Eternity In Our Hearts
And this passage contains one of those nuggets. God has set eternity in the heart of man. What does that mean? I believe it means God has put something within us that longs for more than this life. The proper response to the question, “Is this life all there is?” is no. God has prepared something for us beyond the short years of our life here. And He has put within us a longing for that future.
What that future is has been revealed to us more clearly in the New Testament. But, in the end, it is still somewhat of a mystery. However, it is the hope we have as believers. And something we can look forward to.
This longing has been built into each of us. And that longing is intended to draw us to the only One who can give meaning and purpose to our lives. The One who put that longing within us in the first place.
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