King Solomon was famous for his wisdom. When he became king, in succession to his father David, God said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon was young, just 20 years old, so he asked, “Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” The Queen of Sheba, modern Yemen, heard of Solomon’s great wisdom and visited him to test him with hard questions. When he answered all her questions she was amazed and said she had only heard half the story!
In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.”
Through our lives we all experience the times and seasons Solomon lists. Life has times of great joy but also times of deep sadness. We may learn more from the sad times. Robert Browning Hamilton wrote, “I walked a mile with Pleasure; she chatted all the way; but I was none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow; not a word said she; but, oh! the things I learned that day when Sorrow walked with me.”
Solomon wrote about both time and eternity. “God has made everything beautiful in its time; he has also set eternity in the human heart.” That’s why when someone we love dies we hope they are in heaven with God. This is because we have “eternity in our hearts.” When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” Then he asked her a question, “Do you believe this?”