Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Book Overview

Read 3:1-8. If you were to pick one (or more!) of the “times” for your own life right now, which would you pick? Why?
- Michael said that the word for time here emphasizes that these aren’t just random seasons, but “decreed appointments.” Does that change how you think about / feel about / approach this particular time in your life? What would it mean if God has appointed this time for you?
- Are there any other “times” in that passage that you’re surprised are listed?
Are your thoughts and feelings oriented more towards the past, present, or future?
- Whether it’s in your imagination, your habits, or your hopes/fears, do you find yourself “rehearsing” your present life in light of regret and nostalgia (past) or worry and progress (future)? how does that show up in your life?
- What are you trying to “go back and get” or “reach ahead and secure” when you do that? Can you ever actually get it? Does it help you live in the here-and-now?

Read 9-15. What do you think The Teacher means when he says God has placed eternity into our hearts? How does that shape the way we think, feel, and live?
- What’s the “but” that follows that sentence?
- The Teacher says that even though we don’t know all that God does, everything he does will stand, can be added to or subtracted from, and is done to put us in awe of him. What do you think about that? Is that encouraging? Discouraging?
  - How does God’s plan of redemption in Jesus fit into all of that? …especially that the fullness of the gospel is the one eternal thing that God does want us to know all about and not leave as a mystery?
  - With the gospel in mind, how are we actually freed to embrace whatever “appointed time” we might be living in and enjoy whatever good things God has given us—however much or little that might be?
  - How might we be empowered to live in the present even more with what he’s already given us and what he’s already secured for us?