I Will Do All My Pleasure

“…also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.” ASV Ecc. 3:11

He set eternity in our heart. Isn’t that the truth! I cannot imagine that even the most hardened atheist in the world didn’t at one time recognize that ‘eternity existed in their heart.’ Oh, maybe they were young at the time, and with time, God permitted the circumstances to bring about eventual hardening. With respect to this hardening, let’s just say that in the absence of the light and heat of God’s grace, men grow cold. Men may argue about how that is; especially when we learn of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. The interesting thing about this verse is that God answers even that!

Yes, God set eternity in our hearts, but… He did so that men cannot find out the work that God had done from the beginning even to the end! Oh, we might want to argue about how He went about it, but to the extent that He didn’t explain everything to us, this verse tells us ‘it ain’t gonna happen.’ Man simply cannot find out the work God has done. God, in His glorious wisdom, only disclosed so much. Why do we keep kicking against the goads? That’s a phrase applied to us; as likened to an ox who refuses to plow and kicks back in resistance only to find painful spikes. Ouch. I’ve done it. It hurts. Stop kicking and thrashing about. Do what you know to do.

The next thing I love about this verse is that eternity is framed in time as we know it: beginning to the end. Now, that’s not God’s timeline; that’s ours. God’s? Isaiah 46:10,  “Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,'”

The wonder of these two verses? God’s timeline tells us that everything that was, is and will be is done and that relates to His immutability. He changes not. Man’s timeline tells us we’re playing catch up; that God’s revelation is progressive, and everything shall be eventually revealed. Do I believe eternity has been scripted? Yes; God declared the end from the beginning; even as he brought everything that is into existence by fiat (no, not the car, but declaration). However, for us, moving from beginning to end, it is not to be taken as fatalistic. What ultimately is; yes, it is inevitable. We know something looms before us. We know that because God hath set eternity in our heart. It’s just that we don’t know what. And that, to me, is why progressive revelation is not fatalism: We are participants. Yes, we have a will, but it is God who works in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Phl. 2:13). And isn’t that what God declared, end from the beginning?

For those with ears, let them hear.