Time For Fear - Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 Series

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; 3 a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; 6 a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak; 8 a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What does the worker gain from his struggles? 10 I have seen the task that God has given people with which they are occupied. 11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. 13 It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. 14 I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

Introduction

Of all the things you have in your life right now that are good - all the stuff you have, all the relationships, your gifts and abilities - of all those things, which would be the most terrifying to lose? There are some things that you are willing to risk losing. You don’t want to lose them, but if you could gain some greater benefit, you are willing to put them at risk. There are some pleasures in life you are willing to trade for different pleasures. But there are other things that are never on the table. You guard those things, and if anything threatens them you will take drastic action to hold on to them.

You could refer to those things as your controlling fears. They are fears that control your life because they dictate your priorities. We all have normal fears and loves, and then we have controlling fears and controlling loves. Your controlling loves dictate what you run after in life, and your controlling fears are the things that you are so afraid to lose that you will do anything to make sure you don’t lose them. So they are really two sides of the same coin. Your greatest fear is always losing your greatest love (or never getting it in the first place). So, what are the controlling fears of your life? And in that list, where does closeness with God rank?

If you are anything like me then it ranks way lower than it should. I have closeness with God, then some temptation to sin comes along, and in a heartbeat I am willing to sacrifice that closeness with God so I can run after this sin. If something threatens my physical life, I panic. My car is spinning out of control on the ice and I am about to go off the cliff, everything in me goes into panic mode. If Satan came to me and said, “Darrell, I’ll give you this pleasure in exchange for your family” I would say, “No way!” If something would make me lose my job, or all my money, or my health - I would say, “No, I don’t want that thing.” But so often some little sin comes along, and I know if I go ahead with that sin I am going to forfeit nearness to God for a time - possibly a long time, and I am willing to do it.

The Bible calls that a lack of the fear of God. It means loss of God’s favor is not the controlling fear in my life. And that is the number one spiritual disease we all face - lack of the fear of God as our controlling fear (which is caused by a lack of love for God as our controlling love). So how do we change that? How can we move fear of God up to the level of the controlling fear in our lives? How can we increase our fear of God? Take a peek down at the end of verse 14…

Ecclesiastes 3:14 God did this so that people would fear Him.