United Church of God

Letter From Dan Dowd - July 23, 2021

Letter From Dan Dowd

July 23, 2021

Sabbath Thought - A Time To...

In this life we face one very big quandary.  We want the good times to last forever, and don't want to go through any bad times.  When we are children we want to become adults to be able to do what we want, and then when we are adults we wish we could go back to the simpler times of being a child.  We want time to move forward, but then again we don't.

This is life - it moves forward and changes whether we want it to our not.  Each Sabbath marks another week past that we will never have again.  On one level this all can seem depressing, but from God's perspective it is as it needs to be.  We experience different things at different times in life - all for the purpose of growing in Godly character.

King Solomon reflected on this toward the end of his life.  He had been given great wisdom from God, but he had not always used that wisdom well.  In spite of all that he had been blessed with, Solomon saw the folly of thinking that physical things brought contentment in life.  In the end he concluded that fearing God and keeping His commandments was the primary duty of an individual (Ecclesiastes 12:13). 

Earlier in Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote: "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace," (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NKJV).

Life is not static - things change.  We experience good times and bad times.  So what do we gain from all of these experiences?  This is the follow-up question Solomon asked.  "What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?  I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.  I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor--it is the gift of God.  I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.  That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past," (Ecclesiastes 3:9-15).

Solomon understood, at the end of his life, that everything in life would come and go, but our relationship with God could be forever.  As Solomon said, God has placed the desire to live forever in our hearts.  On this Sabbath day, let us reflect not only on the glory and majesty of our Father, but to consider the life we have been given now so that we can learn what we need to be, to be in God's family for the rest of eternity.

I wish you a meaningful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

23 July, 2021