If needed, a brief explanation and instructions for this devotion can be found on Wednesday’s IMMERSION for this week.
Read the bible verse that follows and record your immediate reaction in terms of emotions and thought. What is it making you feel? What is it making you think?
Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens.
~ The Preacher (probably King Solomon)
Now meditate on the above bible verse for 2-10 minutes and then record your reflective response (consider taking a short walk to enhance your reflection time):
Read through the surrounding verses of Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. Record any further thoughts or emotions that arose as a result of your reading.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
Footnotes:
Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
Formulate a prayer based on the start of this new year about:
• How you can find and use with God (verse 1)
• Which areas are calling out for your time (verses 2-8)
• Finding satisfaction in your life (verse 13)