Decisions That Endure Forever

Ecclesiastes 3:14

     Here in chapter three of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher explains what he has drawn from his time on earth, "I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people will fear before him."

The Breakdown

     I feel like this verse speaks so strongly to us, and it is informative when we dive into it. "I perceived that whatever God does endures forever..." Right here it's pretty easy to see that the Preacher (author) says that anything that God decides to do, it lasts forever. In the Old Testament, God decided not to flood the earth again, and so far, that has been everlasting, enduring forever. God also promised a messiah, a savior; then came along Jesus Christ who still endures forever in Heaven with God. God's decisions are permanent, not temporary. "...nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken form it..." God is God, He is the end all be all. There is none equal or higher than Him. He has no editor, no accountability partner. He is everything there needs to be. Nothing and no one can add to or take away from what God has set in stone because, well, He has the last word and He's God. "...God has done it, so that people will fear before him." The Preacher says that the purpose for God's enduring actions and promises are so that people will fear Him. Now, fear isn't the kind of fear we know. Fearing God means respecting Him, honoring Him, acknowledging his sovereignty. So, God does what He does and sets it in stone so that people will acknowledge His glory and honor Him.

The Application

     This verse is a verse calling for humility, the way I see it. Whatever happens here on earth is something God has done, and since what God does endures forever, we can't change it. We need to be accepting and surrender to what He wants so people will see His glory. That's what I get from this verse. I feel like this lesson keeps coming up, but it's true. We can't change what happens here on earth, we honestly can't. So instead of arguing about the eternal, why not just submit to it and show respect and honor to the One who allows us to be here in the first place? Who are we to argue with the Maker? The least we can do is respect what He has decided to do and submit to His will, that way people will see His glory in us and we will serve as beacons of light in our secular world. When we argue, all we do is act the way Satan wants us to, and we will not serve as examples of Christ to people. We cannot argue, it's meaningless. Good ol' C.S. Lewis puts arguing this way: "The problem with arguing with God is that you are arguing with the very Being that gave you the ability to argue." Let's submit to the will of God because we can't change it, and we will be acting in a way Christ wants us to.