Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 is a strange passage. For a brief moment Qohelet leaves behind the notion of meaninglessness to recite a very famous poem about time. What becomes apparent very quickly however is that God sets the times. For example, no human has control over the time of their birth, nor the time of their death. Likewise humans do not get to choose when to plant seed and when to harvest (uproot). God has set the seasons. We are not in control. God is.
Being out of control is one of humanity’s greatest fears. The reason people fear flying is because they are not in control of the plane. They simply have to trust that the plane will hold together, and that the pilot won’t fly into a mountain. A lack of trust can lead to quite debilitating fear and anxiety.
This is why it is not surprising to find that that the reason God sets the seasons is ‘so that people will revere (fear) Him’ (Eccles 3:14). Yet fear of God is to have the opposite effect to fear of being out of control. To fear God doesn’t mean to be afraid of him; though there should be at least an element of worry to it. Rather to ‘fear’ God means to stand in awe and wonder at his power and character, and to be captivated by it. Since God is a loving God, we can trust that he will use his infinite power for our good.
This is why God setting the times should be a comfort to believers. There is someone infinitely more qualified than us at the helm of the universe, and even our life. All we need to do is (i) trust that God is using all things for our good (Rom 8:28), and (ii) learn how to live in the world he has created for us. Do you have a healthy fear of the Lord?
