Beautiful!
I came across this verse today:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV
What does that mean for us and to us?
“The word “beautiful” has many different meanings depending on its context. In the biblical sense, the original word in Hebrew is yapeh or yapheh, which Strong’s Concordance translates as “fair” or “beautiful.” Other definitions include “appropriate” or “fitting.”
God, Master of the Universe, the Almighty and All-Knowing and All-Perfect, is the creator of all. And as the master architect and artist of the universe, everything He designs is magnificent, perfect — beautiful.
We also know from Scripture that God never lies. In fact, Hebrews 6:18 tells us it’s “impossible” for God to lie.
When God says He makes everything beautiful — lovely, fair, fitting, appropriate, suitable — in its time, that is a truth we can tuck with hope deep in our souls.
What does the Bible mean by “In its own time”?
The original Hebrew is be-it-tow, or more properly, eth, which means time, or appropriate time. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon further define it in its context as “proper, suitable time,” such as the rainy season referred to in Deuteronomy 11:14 or the harvest time in Jeremiah 5:24.
It’s that “just right” time, God’s time, which is tied into His plan for the world. God has a vision and an order for the universe that He is, in His own perfect time, revealing. Like an intricately folded piece of paper, He is unfolding it piece by piece until the full glorious masterpiece is shown.
How Does God Make Everything Beautiful in its Own Time?
We know all of God’s creation is beautiful because it is designed by Him. Everything means everything, from the happy, blissful moments to the tears, grief, and mourning.
From God’s divine perspective, the nascent buds on a tree in springtime or the full-blown blossom of a flower are as beautiful and suitable and fitting as the dried-out, broken, weathered-by-the-storm twig in the depths of winter.
There is no ugliness to this, in God’s eyes. It’s all right and good and glorious.
As humans, we don’t always see this. Sometimes our pain and grief make us short-sighted. We forget that it’s all part of a circle of life, and we focus on our feelings instead of our faith and our hope.
God looks past all this and sees the soul, the spiritual things, as most important. In 1 Peter 3:3-4, it reminds us that God’s idea of beauty isn’t outside adornment like gold jewelry or fine clothes but rather the “inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
We also know God created people in His own image. As God is perfect, we can trust He doesn’t make mistakes. His great design for us, whether sickness or disability, whether our youth or our old age, is by design. It’s all beautiful to Him, all appropriate.” (Source: Author Jessica Brodie at christianity.com)
I think this description is absolutely beautiful! It is that tangible look at the loving, intimate relationship that we need to see with our Heavenly Father and with our Savior Jesus Christ; it is the relationship They long to have with each of us. And it is beautiful!
By Jeanette Stark – Friday, November 4, 2022