He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” Psalm 91: 15, 16, NKJV.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for Your everlasting love and mercy. Please help us to live in the peacefulness of this assurance. These things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today we will continue with the study we began yesterday. We will discuss some other “bad times,” mentioned in Ecclesiastes 3. We have five of these bad times left. I tried keeping them together in a more of less, categorical order. Yesterday we dealt with death and killing, the things that lead to these abnormal situations, and the reactions they cause. Today we look at another kind of loss. I am sure that we will all agree, that loss of any kind, is the consequence of the entrance of sin to the world.
A time to break down. You do not have to work in construction to know that the act of breaking down represents a loss. There is always a cost incurred at the time of building up, which is lost, when things are broken down. Fortunately, there exists insurance policies that cover the replacement costs for almost every manner of breaking down. However, I am sure that you will agree with me, that there is absolutely no comparison between a physical and an emotional break down. (I am not referring necessarily, to a mental, or nervous breakdown).
An edifice, a piece of furniture, a bridge, can all be broken down and reconstructed. In some cases, people may not even take notice of the change. But when an individual suffers an emotional break down, the rebuilding almost never leaves that individual the way he or she was before. There is usually some areas of the person, that is never fully re-built. The only exceptions to that rule, I believe, is when the re-building, is by divine intervention.
A time to cast away stones. I believe that the real negative impact of this act of casting away stones, can be best appreciated when we read Scripture such as, “And he beheld them, and said, “What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner” (Luke 20: 17)? The Israelites had unwittingly, rejected the foundation stone upon which their temple was to be built. They later became aware of its enormous value. It was symbolic of what they would do with the “Rock of their salvation” (Psalm 95: 1), Jesus Christ. What a loss they incurred!
A time to lose. In God’s plans for His creatures there was never to be “a time to lose.” We were all to be “more than conquerors through Him that love us” (Romans 8: 37). As Sandi Patty so beautifully composed it, “In Heaven’s Eyes there are no losers, In Heaven’s Eyes, no hopeless case. Only people like you, with feelings like me and we’re amazed at the grace that we can find in Heaven’s Eyes.” Praise God!
A time to throw away. Here again is the idea of rejection; the feeling of worthlessness. We usually throw away things that we consider worthless, useless, expendable. If we would restrict this feeling to things, it would not be so harmful, but sad to say, we transfer these feelings to human beings. Sometimes the act of divorce is viewed as an act of throwing away, “putting away” (Malachi 2: 14-16), the man or woman who no longer serves our purpose.
A time to tear. The negative scene that comes to my mind as I read this portion of Scripture, is from the story of Saul, the first king of Israel. What a tragedy! “And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, ‘ “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. . . ” (1 Samuel 15: 27, 28). Emphasis supplied.
Dearly beloved, as we travel this valley of tears, we will suffer tragedies. But we need not despair, because “greater is He that is [with us] than He that is in the world” (1 John 4: 4). Our God has promised to be with us, unto “the end” (Matthew 28: 20); and that includes the “bad times.” Remember, we can depend on Him to keep His Word!