Today’s Scripture Reading (May 12,
2013): Ecclesiastes 3
I mentioned
earlier that I recently watched “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” Actually I
have watched it twice – please don’t think less of me. I originally watched it
alone, just looking for something on Netflix to watch, and then I watched it
with my wife about a week later. And one of my favorite lines in the movie is
placed on the lips of the hotel proprietor, Sonny. His mantra throughout the
movie is that “everything will be all right in the end ... if it is not all
right then it’s not yet the end.” Sonny near the end of the movie is tempted to
settle for something that is less than all right. But it is at that point that
his friends come around him and remind him that “everything will be all right
in the end ... if it is not all right then it’s not yet the end.”
I have to
admit that there is something about Sonny’s philosophy of life that I find very
appealing. I have friends that would accuse me of just having a Pollyanna
attitude, and they are probably right. But if this is not the way the world
works, it is the way I wish that the world worked.
The Teacher
seems to think that Sonny might have been right. He says that everything is
beautiful in its time – everything will be all right in the end. God has
created this world and he does not make junk. Everything is beautiful, or at
least it will be in its time. I think the message is do not give up on the
dream. Everything is going to be all right in the end. But there is a problem.
The Teacher also continues to say that God has set eternity in our hearts, he
has made us with an eye to eternity, and yet something has stepped in and
blinded us from all the good that God wants to do. But the fact that we cannot
see it, does not mean that everything will not be beautiful in its time.
The writer
of Genesis tells the story of Joseph. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of
Jacob. And Joseph was the favorite of his father because he was the oldest son
of his favorite wife. And whenever there is a favorite in a family situation,
there is trouble. And that was true in Joseph’s life. His brothers became
jealous and they decided to trap him and sell him into slavery. He is resold as
a slave and finally he gets thrown into prison on trumped up charges and left
there to die. He is finally rescued by the king because the king had need of
his talents and Joseph was placed in charge over the nation of Egypt and
brought them through a time of famine – after all, “everything will be all
right in the end ... if it is not all right then it’s not yet the end.” And
finally his brothers, the very ones that sold him into slavery, come to him and
they are afraid for their lives. But
Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You
intended to harm me, but God intended it
for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many
lives (Genesis 50:19-20.) They
couldn’t see it, but that does not change the reality that everything is
beautiful in its time.
Whatever it is that you are going through –
everything will be beautiful in its time. And God has set eternity in your heart.
And I know that there might be something blocking your vision from seeing the
beauty in this moment, but that does not change the reality. Everything is
beautiful. Do not settle for less – it is not yet the end.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Ecclesiastes 4
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