I’ve been feeling numb lately. It’s a weird purposeless feeling. It’s not that I want to be here emotionally, I just am. Even after weeks of rest, I’ve been processing why I feel stalled out. I’ve written lines in my journal asking God to “wake me up inside.” I need a reboot in my heart and life perspective. Maybe you can relate?
I came across Ecclesiastes 3:11 recently. God has used this verse as a spiritual defibrillator on my spiritual heart. I needed a jump start and I didn’t expect that it would come from this verse. I needed a reminder. I needed to recall something very important. I believe you may need to remember it too. What is it you ask?
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11 a beautiful verse. It comes dramatically after his expounding that there is a time for everything:
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NLT)
So what is it that you and I need to remember? We need to remember that our lives have purpose. I don’t mean the kind of purpose of providing food on the table, or going through life’s motions. I mean the eternal purposes and the reason that God has you and I on this planet. We are able to breath this morning. God has planted eternity in our hearts. There is a longing in each of us for something better than we are experienced yesterday. We want more.
The word ‘beautiful’ here means ‘appropriate.’ God in His unlimited plan and control has an appropriate time for every activity in our lives. Even the mundane times in our lives have purpose. There is a security in knowing this. Even in my despair, I can take comfort that it isn’t without purpose. We can’t know everything that is going on in our lives. We can’t understand His ways and His decisions. However, we can rest knowing that God performs countless miracles. He is all knowing. He has made everything beautiful. He is moving even when we feel like He is not.
Why are you here? Why are you on this planet? Why are you ‘taking up space” as some would like to say? Another meaning to the word ‘beautiful’ in this verse is that you are ‘marked by suitability, rightness, or appropriateness.’ What does all that mumbo jumbo mean? It means you are pretty, you are handsome, you are good, excellent, and proper. David writes in Psalm 139, that you are delicately made. God has made you beautiful.
So what? You and I were created to last forever. God has planted eternity in you and me. That means that we are everlasting. Our current emotions and circumstances are not eternal, but you and I are. Let’s allow our heart to fully embrace this truth. Let’s allow our thoughts, our emotions, and our conscience to rest in the certainty that our life has purpose. Our short season of being stalled out has purpose too.
We cannot not see the entire scope of what God may be up to today. Heck, we may not even want to. Perspective usually changes everything. Choose to focus on purpose today. Accept and believe that there is something going on behind the scenes in your life and it is beautiful. Choosing to believe this may not make the emotions of feeling stalled out go away. That’s ok. It’s the truth in the perspective that matters.
There is an adventure out there waiting for you. Make a choice to live life with the belief that today, this very moment, has eternal purpose. That longing in your soul is not on accident. It was planted there by God himself.
My dream is to help you live out your calling and thrive. I believe that your best days are before you…not behind you. We all need a little coaching, encouragement, wisdom, and help from time to time. We can’t accomplish our goals in isolation or always on our own. We need each other. Remember, you are not alone. It’s time to thrive. Let’s do it together. Click here to set up a Discovery Coaching call.
Rick