Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:2-4a

Perhaps no better cross-section of life can be found anywhere than in these beautiful and poetic verses. Solomon unfolds for us the variety of life, all of which takes place under the providential hand of God. There are fourteen contrasts. (1) There is a time to be born and a time to die. No one can negotiate his or...

For Reading and Meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:1

Solomon turns his attention to the consideration of time. Who can define time? Longfellow asked, "What is time?", and then went on to say that although time could be measured, it could not be clearly defined. One of the best definitions of discipleship I have ever heard is: "Discipleship is what a person does with his time."

Imagine...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:4b-6a

We continue looking at Solomon's fourteen contrasts of life. (6) A time to mourn and a time to dance. We lose a loved one, and then, a year or so later, a family member gets married. Mourning is turned to dancing. Isn't this true of almost every family on earth? (7) A time to scatter stones and a time to gather...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:6b-8

We look now at the last of the list of Solomon's fourteen contrasts. (10) A time to keep and a time to throw (or give) away. Think at this moment of all the stuff you have that you will never use. Some things you will need to keep, of course, but some things ought to be given away. (11) A time to tear and a time to...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Wouldn';t it be wonderful if we knew how to react properly to all of life's events? To do the right thing at the wrong time is almost as bad as not doing right. "What time is it?" we often ask. In regard to life's events, how often we wish we knew! Solomon follows up his poetic...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:11

The text before us today reads like a conundrum. God has set eternity in our hearts, yet we cannot understand what He has done. God has not only established a timetable by which everything is ordered, but He has also placed within our spirits a deep longing for eternity. Because of this, there is something in every one...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

When God is in our lives, then His presence makes a world of difference. God gives us four things so that we might enjoy our life here on planet earth. First, He gives us the ability to be happy (v. 12). Happiness is a gift. Only God can give us the perspective on life that enables us to remain happy even when...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

In these verses we come face to face with the thoroughness of God. However ragged life may seem in a fallen world, the Creator knows no such imperfections. Everything He does is not only permanent, but complete: "nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it" (v. 14). Ever sent for something and found that...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Have you noticed that whenever Solomon looks "above the sun" he gets the right perspective, but when he looks "beneath the sun" his blood pressure rises, along with his cynicism? We saw yesterday that when he looked away from the injustice he observed on earth to the day when all wrongs would be righted, he...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

Ever found yourself feeling frustrated because of the way in which wickedness seems to win over justice? Then you know something of how Solomon feels in the verses before us today. Every generation, throughout time, has had to face this problem. James Russell Lowell put it this way: Truth forever on the scaffold,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:1-6

As we said yesterday, Solomon seems fine when his gaze is focused "above the sun," but he becomes filled with cynicism when he looks around at what is "under the sun." Today we see his gaze focused once again in the horizontal direction. He "looks around," as he puts it, sees people caught in the grip of oppression,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

Some people are lonely because of the oppression of others; some because their own competitiveness separates them from friends. In today's passage, however, we come face to face with a man who was lonely because he had no family connections. How does he handle it? He throws himself into an endless round of activity...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Strange though it may sound, it is possible to have many friends and still be lonely. That's the point Solomon is making in the verses before us today. Look again at the picture he presents in verse 13. It is a picture of two people: one a poor but wise youth, the other an old but rich king. Who would you think...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 5:1-3

In this chapter, we catch Solomon in one of those rare moments when he breaks free of his cynical frame of mind - so let's make the most of it! He begins with a strong and positive declaration: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen ..." The Living Bible paraphrases it thus: "As you...