God has a plan for each of us, which He is working out a day at a time.  But although God is working in us and with us and around us a day at a time, we often become restless and dissatisfied.  We may be able to see how things in the past have worked to advance God’s plan, but what is happening today may be hard to understand.

    There are several thoughts in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that help me in such times.

    First, I am reminded that God is in charge of His world.  “He hath made everything....”  Not just the physical world.  Everything.  Life is not a series of accidents or unrelated happenings.  Everything is part of a grand plan, and God is in charge of it.  Nothing comes to me without my Father’s permission.  In fact, the things that come do so because He is working on His plan.  If I lose sight of this, I can become confused and discouraged.  But if I keep this thought in the forefront, I am encouraged to want God to do even more.

    Second, I am reminded that the things that I see as unpleasant and ugly are in fact beautiful.  “He hath made everything beautiful....”  When I begin to see things as God sees them, I begin to think of things in a different way.  Someone has said that if we knew what God knows, we would give ourselves the same blessings God does.  And they are blessings.  Sometimes they are not seen that way at first, but time often helps us to see how they are beautiful because they are part of God’s beautiful plan.

    Finally, I am reminded that God is working day by day.  It is not all done at one time.  And everything is beautiful as it fits into the part of God’s plan that He is working out today.  “He hath made everything beautiful in His time.”  Sometimes I try to hurry God, and begin to manipulate my life, hoping things will happen sooner.  But if what I want were to happen, it wouldn’t be a blessing.  It would be a burden, or a stumbling block.  When it is God’s time, everything is beautiful.

    When I accept these words not only as God’s truth, but as God’s truth for me, I can begin to rest in Him and His plan.  And I can begin to fit into that plan at this particular point in my life,  being and doing whatever God’s plan calls for right now. As Edwin Markham wrote,


    And as I bear or strike, or whatever God wants of me today, I demonstrate to myself and to all who are watching, that God really has made everything beautiful in His time.