Scripture: Ecclesiastes Denomination: United Methodist. Psalm 8 UMH Revelation a. Our lives are punctuated by sacrifices—sacrifices of our time, sacrifices of our energies, sacrifices that affect our families, sacrifices now, with the hope of a better future. God shows us where God wants us to be, what God wants us to do. We could stop breathing in the next moment if that is God's will, and real faith is surrender. Solomon in Ecclesiastes begins by looking at the two extremes of life a time to be born and a time to die.
These are the bookends of our earthly existence. There is a time when you are born and there is a time when you die and everything else takes place between these two times.
We should note that nearly every other time mentioned in this chapter involves a choice. We can decide when to plant or when to uproot or when to kill or when to heal or when to weep or when to laugh or when to mourn or when to dance. But there are two things we don't decide. We don't decide when to be born. And as God has ordained, we don't decide when we will die.
This is really the heart of the entire teaching. You're here, my friends, because God said so, and when it's time to exit, that's up to God too. There have been those who have thought they could play God, and decide the end life on their own timetable. But in their failed attempts, many have conceded that it's God, not man who decides when it's time to go.
You have little control over anything, if you cant control your fait then you are but a part of the story. Even to the point of our own child on the chopping block we hold to our faith and worship.
