Passage: Ecclesiastes 3

The Big Idea

Your “lot in life” is mostly out of your control, and everyone’s lot ends the same way. But Solomon says your life still matters. Your portion is a gift from God: His presence in every ordinary moment and every season, good and bad.

What Is Your Lot?

The phrase comes from casting lots, like drawing straws. Usually we use it for the hard things we have to go through. And always in the background is the same ending for everyone: a funeral.

So what is chapter 3 about? Start near the end of the chapter.

The Main Lesson (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, 22)

Nothing is better than to rejoice, do good, eat and drink, and enjoy the good of your labor. It is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13). Nothing is better than to rejoice in your work, for that is your heritage, your portion, your lot (Ecclesiastes 3:22).

There is a purpose for your life. It’s a gift. It’s your lot.
Most of life is out of your control, but your purpose is right in front of you.
Your life matters. What you do matters, even if it’s not where you thought you’d be.
It’s ultimately found in walking with God through Jesus. Every moment and season is redeemed, even death.

Martin Luther is often quoted as saying that if he knew he would die tomorrow, he would still plant his apple tree today. My life matters.

How Our Neighbors Deal with Life and Death

Not everyone sees it this way. Picture four neighbors and an apple tree:

Despair. Think Eeyore. Everything is pointless. This neighbor sits by the apple tree and weeps, waiting for death, telling everyone who walks by that nothing matters. Solomon agrees meaning is lost under the sun, but insists God exists and can be known. Purpose can be recovered in Him.
Cynicism. Striving for fame or riches is pointless; meaning is fiction; but hey, the mountains are pretty. This neighbor lies in the shade, unshaven, mocking your hard work, eating apples until they’re gone. Solomon agrees much of life is chasing pointless things, and that we don’t need much to be content. But there is a God who must be known to recover the beauty of Eden.
Hedonism. Pleasure is the goal. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. This neighbor cuts the tree down and throws a party with the harvest. It feels good but doesn’t heal the soul. Solomon says enjoy life, but there is a difference between lust and love, grateful receiving and greedy consuming. Hedonism treats people as toys.
Religious escapism. Don’t bother with the tree. Let it rot. Run, hide and pray because death is coming. Or ignore all the pain: “Just believe, brother, it’s all good.” But Jesus never did that. He was very present in this world: a son, a brother, a friend. Our coming death should lead us to plant an apple tree for those who come after us.

Practice His Presence

So what am I supposed to do? Practice the presence of God.

God is in all the ordinary things of life, not only at church. Our lot is a gift: His presence, not earned but given. That’s grace.

Instead of “seize the day,” Solomon would have us wake up each day, open our hands, notice what God is giving and what He isn’t, humbly receive what He gives as enough, and enjoy it.

Brother Lawrence was a monk who spent years washing dishes in a monastery kitchen and was frustrated by it. Then he learned that it didn’t depend on changing what he did, but on changing why he did it: for God instead of for himself. His little book The Practice of the Presence of God is still read today.

God’s attention is always fixed on us. He never leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5), never ignores or forgets us, never rejects us even when we deserve it. We’ve been given a place to be, things to do, needs to meet and people to share it with, all with a God who wants to walk with us and provide for us.

Thankful for Fleas

In a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom’s sister Betsie insisted they thank God even for the fleas in their barracks. Later they discovered the guards stayed away from that barracks because of the fleas, which let the women read the Bible and pray openly. God was near. They found joy in a terrible season because they found a God who was always giving gifts.

People of every philosophy try to live “in the moment,” but for different reasons:

The nihilist lives moment by moment to rehearse the emptiness.
The cynic lives moment by moment to mock our pretenses.
The hedonist lives moment by moment to avoid pain and grab pleasure.
The religious escapist lives moment by moment to get away from the ugly and physical.

But the child of God walks with Him through each flea-infested moment, knowing intimacy with God is better than anything else.

Jesus Lived This

Jesus sought His Father as a boy, when He broke bread and when He had none, when He was alone and when He was joyful with friends, when He was abandoned and when He was mistreated. Even on the cross, His one thought was “Father.”

And after He conquered death, what did He do with His disciples? He cooked them breakfast on the beach (John 21:9-13). He could have been out saving the world. But He knew so much grows through an ordinary, real relationship with God.

Seasons in Our Lot (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

To everything there is a season. Let’s sort Solomon’s list into two columns. Shallow people won’t like the first list. Gloomy people won’t like the second. But both are real.

Difficult seasons	Delightful seasons
A time to die	A time to be born
A time to pluck up	A time to plant
A time to kill	A time to heal
A time to break down	A time to build up
A time to weep	A time to laugh
A time to mourn	A time to dance
A time to cast away stones	A time to gather stones
A time to refrain from embracing	A time to embrace
A time to lose	A time to seek
A time to throw away	A time to keep
A time to tear	A time to sew
A time to keep silent	A time to speak
A time to hate	A time to love
A time for war	A time for peace

The hard seasons are traumatic, and it’s difficult to find God in them. Not impossible, just difficult, and worth it. In the good seasons we sense His nearness more clearly and learn to see hope coming like waves.

These seasons come to all of us and to our neighbors.

Birth and death. We celebrate births. We sometimes keep our distance from people so we won’t get hurt when we lose them.
Embracing and refraining. Touch can heal or hurt.
Speaking and silence. It matters which one we choose.
Planting and uprooting, building and tearing down. Some of us hit snooze too long. Others don’t know when to stop.

How do I know which season I’m in and what to do? These are seasons, not rules. We need God in each moment. We humbly look up and say, “God, help me again. Help me right here.”

Hope in Every Season

Paul learned to be content whether full or hungry, abounding or in need. He could do all things through Christ who strengthened him (Philippians 4:12-13). That’s our lesson too. Jesus is there, no matter what falls to our lot.

We have hope:

God has a purpose and is in control of everything.
He loves us through Jesus.
Nothing is wasted. What others meant for evil, God means for good (Genesis 50:20).
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

His love is given freely, supplied by the work of Jesus for us. So we can live through every season knowing we are more loved than we could ever understand. Our lives become an ever-deepening discovery of what it means to be His beloved child.

Paul prays that we would be rooted and grounded in love, know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Grace Takeaway

The opposite of vanity is fullness. Whatever season you’re in, your lot is not empty. It’s filled with the presence of a God who never leaves. Open your hands, receive what He gives, and plant your apple tree.

← Hate the Curse and Join the Resistance | All Ecclesiastes notes | Dealing with Church →

Dealing with Your Lot in Life