The Lot We Receive

Shiloh National Military Park is about twenty minutes from my house. My family often goes there to ride bicycles. My kids’ favorite stop is Rhea Springs, a beautiful natural spring shaded by Sweetgum trees. They love to throw gumballs into the creek and watch the current carry it along—through the minnows, under the bridge, down the little waterfall, around the bend, and finally out of sight.

In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon says that we can sometimes feel like that little Sweetgum ball. Even if we have given up on finding satisfaction in the world and have committed our lives to God (ch 1–2), we can still feel small, helpless, and out of control, just swept along on a river of time. That’s what Solomon describes in his poem in 3:1–8. These are the most famous words in the book. They may be familiar to you, either from funeral services or from that 1960s song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds. But what do these haunting verses mean?

Solomon is teaching us what we can expect from this life. To begin with, we can expect a variety of seasons. Some seasons of life will be sweet—like the birth of a new baby, spring planting, laughing with a good friend, or falling in love. Other seasons of life will be bitter—grieving the death of a loved one, seeing a child go off to war, days of loss and tearing and weeping. Get ready, Solomon says, you’ll get your share of all of it! Furthermore, we can expect these seasons to change constantly. One day you’re celebrating a new job, and the next you find out your best friend is moving away. One day you’re cradling a newborn baby, then the next you’re weeping over the death of a parent. We have no control over any of this! We’re like the little Sweetgum ball, swept past first one event and then another. This can be disorienting and discouraging. The Byrds made it sound so easy: just “Turn! Turn! Turn!” But it's not. This is the lot we have received.

Getting a handle on this poem is essential for wise joy in a broken world. First, it makes us realistic about our lot. Adam’s sin plunged God’s good world under a curse (Gen 3). Our world is now full of pain, brokenness, and disorder. Man is now born for trouble as sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). Without this healthy dose of biblical realism, I will be shocked when I find myself floating through some of the darker seasons described in the poem. I will look for heaven on earth and be devastated when I don’t find it. I will spend my life chasing the mirage of a perfect, trouble-free life, only to end up with a mouth full of hot sand. I’ll think there is a job that never frustrates me, a marriage where I’m never disappointed, a church that always meets my expectations, etc. And I will never find contentment with my actual, imperfect life. Wise people are realistic.

But the poem also makes us hopeful about our lot. The wonderful things in this poem are part of my lot, too! God has not abandoned me! He saturates my worst days with goodness I don’t deserve. A great deal goes wrong in my life, but there is still so much that goes right! And one day, this same God has promised to remove the curse of death once and for all and make all things new through the work of his Son Jesus. If I forget this, I will become negative, cynical, sour, and ungrateful—blind to the abundant kindness of God in my life.

Understanding the lot I have received makes me a cheerful realist. Our world is fallen, but it is also graced. Life is broken, but life is also beautiful. Life is never perfect (that’s what heaven is for!) but walking with God, it can still be so good!

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church