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Answers to the Problem With God.

Eccl. 3:1-15

Some may be shocked this morning that the title of our message indicates that there is a problem with God. It's not so much that there is a problem with God as "we have a problem with God." If we are honest this morning then we will admit that at one time or another or perhaps even right now, we have had a problem with God. Our problem is that God doesn't do things the way we would like Him to. We have a problem with God when we get that dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. We don't understand God when the doctor gives us bad news. When death comes before we are ready for it, when our job ends before we are prepared, when our money runs out before our month does. We scream like Habakkuk when He cries to God "Are men like fish which the Babylonians catch in their nets...Where are you God? Or like Jeremiah who shouts at God that He is like a deceptive stream that promises refreshment but then does not deliver. There are times when we call into question the love of God or the power of God. If God loves me He would'nt let this happen...If God was all-powerful He could stop this from happening.
But know this, God is Sovereign over the universe and He has ONE PLAN and He will not waver from it...no matter what. God does not play tennis with Satan (I will create man..Ok I will cause them to sin, then I will remove them from the garden, if you do that, I'll have them build a tower to heaven). No! God has One plan that He has decreed from the beginning of time and it will come to perfect fulfillment. No pieces of the puzzle will be left over that do not fit the puzzle. He has a predestined purpose for every single event that happens under heaven.
I. He Has An Appropriate Time For All Things
The first 8 verses of this chapter illustrate the wisdom of God. He has ordained a time for all things under the heavens and all of these things are beautiful in their time. The word "beautiful" means appropriate or that it fulfills its purpose. Solomon is telling us that all these things that take place, do so, in fulfillment of God's plan. These verses reveal to us that life is filled with both roses and pot holes. Notice, there is a time to be born and a time to die. The birth of a child brings great rejoicing...death brings great mourning, but both events serve their purpose in their time. We see that all things have a part in God's plan. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh...a time to mourn and a time to dance.
If you were to play Jesus Loves Me on the piano and only play the white keys it would sound boring. But when you add the black keys it sounds beautiful. In the same way, life becomes exciting and fulfilling when our lives have a mixture of both peace and tranquil moments and challenging, painful and exciting moments.
God knows what he is doing. Solomon teaches us that God is not our genie. He does not grant wishes nor does he take suggestions. There was no suggestion box in the Tabernacle. How could mere man advise the God of the Universe?
Our response to all of this is illustrated in verse 9 when Solomon plays the devil's advocate and asks the question: What's the use? If God has all the events preordained then why even bother? Why get married...we'll just fight. Why have kids...I'll just have to whip them. Why live...its just gonna be painful. Why try? Solomon notes in verse 10, I have seen the God-given task for man - to keep busy.
If chapters 1 & 2 of Ecclesiastes dealt with the question: How to survive? This third chapter deals with an even more difficult one: How to live in an uncontrollable world. Solomon gives uf four platforms to stand on when seeking to deal with the problem with God. Verse 11 addresses the first one: God is wise. His perfect plan emcompasses all things. Even bad things have a purpose in their time. God sees from a different perspective. One might ask, what possible purpose could a mosquito have? How could it possibly exist for a good or fulfilling purpose? Well, as a matter of fact, the world as we know it, would be it utter chaos if the tundra in Alaska did not stay put. If it were to erode away it would wreack havoc on our environment. The only thing that prevents that from happening is the vegetation that grows on the tundra. The only thing that keeps the vegetation growing on the tundra is the fact that it is continually pollinated. And, you guessed it, the insect that pollinates this vegetation is the mosquito. Only God could have devised such a plan!
II. He Has Set Eternity in The Hearts of Man
The second platform one must stand on when dealing with the problem with God is the fact that God is mysterious. He has decreed from the beginning to end. From Genesis to Revelation He has ordained teh events of time and plays it like Beethoven's Sonata with black and white keys. We have a built in hunger to want to know the purpose and meaning of the events in our lives but God will not show us. Try as we might, we cannot find out the things of God. His thoughts are beyond our thoughts and His ways are past our finding out. We want to know why God put difficulties in our lives but He will not show us. We must trust Him. We don't know, we can't see it. We can't understand.
We want to know why we suffer, why we face trials. Why the answer does not come? Why God remains silent? I'm reminded of Adam Dorsey's song, "I am God," and the line in which God responds, yes I see your hurting, yes I know its tough, no, I will not call it off, my grace is enough, I am God. While God doesn't give us the answer to our pain. He does give us the only answer that matters and that answer is I AM GOD! We must rest in that with perfect confidence. He is God and that's enough.
III. He Has Given Every Good and Perfect Gift
The third platform upon which one must stand when tempted to voice our problem with God is the injunction: Enjoy God! Verse 12 says, I know nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives. Solomon is concluding that we need to quit fretting about the things which we have no control over and enjoy life. Rejoice in the Lord and do good. Live life to the fullest. Never forget the following quote: "You don't let what you cannot know destroy what you can enjoy." Too many of us are missing out on the joys of life because we are fretting about the fact that we are not God. Because we cannot solve the problem of evil and we cannot fathom the mind of God; because we don't have answers to life's mysteries, we live our lives upset instead of joyful. Don't get upset that you are not God. Why did this suddenly become an issue with us? We have never been God!
I don't know what's going to happen next week. I may have a heart attack and die. A car may cross a yellow line and hit me. I may get that dreaded phone call no one wants to get. I hope not. But I might. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know that right now I'm going to enjoy life. After the service is over I'm going to eat a good meal, drink a diet coke, and maybe enjoy a piece of cheesecake. Tonight, I might sit down with my family and watch a good movie and eat popcorn. The uncertainty about tomorow is not going to rob me of the joy of today. I don't have to know about tomorrow as long as I know the One who holds tomorrow in His Hands. God has given us life to enjoy.
IV. He Has Given Only That Which Is Eternal
The final platform upon which to stand is the injunction: Rest in God's Sovereignty. Verse 14 says, "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." I don't have to know the answers to life's difficulties. If I suddenly hear that my mom has died. I don't have to understand it; but, I have to know that God is in charge. I have to know that God has a perfect plan and that He will never deviate from that plan and that every event fits into His plan. I can life with the horror of life because I know the One who is seated on the throne.
It's like repelling down a mountain. You don't just let anyone hold the rope for you. You gotta know who's holding the rope! When faced with the mountains of life...you gotta know whose holding the rope. I just gotta know God is in charge. God has a plan...and what I'm struggling through fits in His plan. A great example of this is Corrie Ten Boom. When she was in the concentration camp with her sister Betsy, her sister made her sit down and pray and thank God for everything they were going through. They thanked God for the concentration camp, for the prisoners, for the food, and finally Betsy made Corrie thank God for the bed bugs and lice that tormented them constantly. Corrie couldn't understand what possible purpose those lice could serve,until the day she was released. You see, every night they had a bible study with the prisoners and they marveled that they were never interrupted by the guards. When Corrie was released she found out the guards did not bother them because of the lice and bed bugs. Many of those prisoners gave their lives to Jesus Christ in those bible studies...those lice were God's shield around His faithful.
We must learn to rest in the sovereignty of God even when it doesn't make sense: trust in God. He is on the throne and He ordained the present in the past...He planned the future in the past...and He brings the past to the future in order to put the pieces together for His perfect plan.
God is wise. God is mysterious...rejoice in God and rest in God's Sovereignty. So you think your life is just too difficult to find any sense in it? You think its just too painful to trust in God's Plan? Try God's on for size: He became the incarnate Son of God, born of a virgin, was ridiculed, mocked, beaten, bruised and broken; battered, and humiliated, nailed to a cross and spat upon all while bearing the sin of all humanity as the One and only perfect Son of God. Why? Because in eternity past God had a plan...a plan that included a sinless Savior dying for a sinful people so these sinful people could be redeemed by this sinless Savior and spend eternity with Him forever. The beating, the mockery, the pain, the misunderstanding, the ridicule, the cross...all meaningless apart from the resurrection. But with the resurrection...what an incredible plan! What an incredible Savior! What an aweseome and Sovereign God we serve. I don't have to know the answer. Because I know the One who is the Answer!