The beauty of every Sunday stems from two thousand years of church history. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of God, the glory of His Son, and our eternal security in Him. As we embrace God’s design through repetition on a Sunday, we learn to fear Him. Every Lord’s Day, we worship in spirit and truth, responding to our Creator with reverence.
In the middle of Ecclesiastes 3 we read a puzzling statement: “God seeks what has been driven away” (Eccl. 3:15). People have interpreted this verse in different ways, some suggesting that Solomon comments here on the nature of God, who pursues the outcasts of society. Theologically, it is true that our God cares for the lowly and shows compassion to the humble. But the context of Ecclesiastes 3 hints that this is not the meaning of verse 15.
The whole of Ecclesiastes 3 is about our relationship with time. It begins with a poem, through which he teaches our inability to master the seasons (Eccl. 3:1–8). He then explains the reason for this reality: God is in control of the clock, and our vulnerability should cause us to fear Him (Eccl. 3:9–15). Finally, Solomon uses justice as an example—when righteousness does not come at the right time, we are reminded again that we are not God (Eccl. 3:16–22).
In this context, it seems that verse 15 speaks in some way about the nature of time. The Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) offers an insightful interpretation: “God restores that which is past.” I think this is the sense of Ecclesiastes 3:15. Not only does God ordain the passing of time, but He keeps bringing the same seasons before us. Times of sorrow, times of rejoicing, times of planting and of reaping—we experience them all, and then we experience them again. This is the way of God’s providence. We see it not only across the seasons, but from hour to hour. At the end of each Sunday, Monday comes. A new week brings the same challenges, the same victories, the same blessings. God has designed the passing of our lives to feel strangely circular: eat, sleep, work, repeat.
But why has He done this? Within the context, Solomon explains that our inability to master the seasons is supposed to drive us to fear God (Eccl. 3:14). In a similar way, the repetitive nature of life is purposeful. It is God’s wisdom that we should live according to various expressions of routine. Revisiting the same struggles, the same experiences, the same seasons is a way in which God instructs our hearts to submit to His reign.
Understanding this truth is important if we are to make the most of the time that we have. We do not want to look back with regrets, but rather to say that by God’s grace we lived to the praise of His glory. We must learn to embrace what is past as God brings it before us again.
The Value of Routine
How, specifically, does God instruct our hearts through repetition? Throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon explains that the best we can do is to embrace the life that has been set before us (Eccl. 2:24; 3:12, 22; 8:15). We are not God; we cannot control all things. We must learn our place within the economy of life and choose contentment with our lot.
This is easier said than done. I don’t enjoy the alarm clock sounding early on a Monday morning. I wouldn’t choose times of sickness or ill-health. I want to avoid life-altering tragedies. Even when my lot is good, it is difficult to embrace the life that God has set before me because my sinful tendency is to make too much of the blessing. I am prone to worship the gift, not the giver. Ecclesiastes seeks to lead us in the path of wisdom—