There’s something moving about realizing that God was at work in America long before it became a nation. Before the Declaration of Independence was signed, before the Constitution was written, before the first flag was raised, God was stirring hearts through what historians call the Great Awakenings.
The First Great Awakening swept through the colonies from 1730 to 1755. During that time, Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Because of poor eyesight, he simply read from a manuscript. There was nothing dramatic about his delivery, yet the conviction was so overwhelming that the congregation began weeping so loudly he had to stop and ask for quiet so he could finish. That wasn’t the result of gifted preaching. It was the Holy Spirit moving in power.
The Second Great Awakening followed from 1790 to 1850, bringing renewed emphasis on theology and morality. The Third Great Awakening carried the gospel beyond church walls through tent meetings and prayer revivals. Then came the Fourth Great Awakening, often called the Jesus Movement, from 1967 to 1972. Its influence is still felt today in everything from worship music to youth ministry.
During the Jesus Movement, Calvary Chapel saw more than 200 people come to Christ every week and baptized around 500 people each month. Young adults disillusioned by Vietnam, political turmoil, and cultural upheaval found the hope they had been searching for in Jesus Christ. One church experienced a revival that lasted three weeks, where more than 100 people were saved and 60 were baptized in a single service. Looking back, it’s easy to see that God was doing far more than anyone realized in those moments. He has always worked through seasons, accomplishing His purposes long before people can see the outcome.
The Wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3
Ecclesiastes 3 gives us one of Scripture’s clearest pictures of how God works through time. Solomon writes:
“There’s an occasion for everything, a time for every activity under heaven: a time to give birth 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…”
Those contrasts remind us that while our lives unfold within time, God stands outside of it. We are bound by days, months, and years. We can’t add to them or go back and reclaim them. God isn’t limited that way. Vince Lombardi once said, “The Packers never lost a game. They just ran out of time.” Eventually, every one of us does. The question isn’t whether time will run out. It’s what we do with the time God has given us.
God Authors Your Seasons
Ecclesiastes 3:9–10 asks, “What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.”
That word occupied carries the idea of being consumed or taken up by something. Our lives are occupied by the work God has appointed for us. Even when we don’t understand the season we’re in, we can trust it hasn’t caught Him by surprise. When you’re working a job that feels ordinary or wondering why life isn’t moving as quickly as you’d hoped, it may be that God is using this season to prepare you for the next one.
Every Season Has Purpose
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts. But man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.”
The word translated appropriate also carries the idea of something beautiful. God makes everything beautiful in His time. That’s very different from saying everything feels beautiful while we’re living through it. Most of us can name seasons that didn’t feel beautiful at all.
Rejection.
Serious illness.
The loss of someone we love.
Financial hardship.
Broken relationships.
Career disappointments.
None of those things feel good in the moment. Yet over time, God often reveals purposes we never could have seen while we were living through them.
Think about the church leader who was voted down for a pastoral position. It was painful and confusing, but that season shaped his character, strengthened relationships, and deepened his trust in God. Not long afterward, tornadoes struck the community, and he stepped into leadership. Two weeks later, COVID changed everything. Eventually, the church revisited its decision, and all 39 deacons stood together to affirm him as pastor. Then his wife contracted COVID and spent seven weeks in the hospital. She was the only patient in that unit who survived. During those weeks, something happened inside the church. A yellow ribbon appeared on her pew with a handwritten note that read, “We’re going to leave this here until she returns.” People stopped arguing about preferences. They prayed together, cared for one another, and rallied around a family in need.
Those seasons weren’t beautiful because they were easy. They were beautiful because God was at work through them.
Every Season Points to Something Greater
The second half of Ecclesiastes 3:11 explains why our hearts never seem fully satisfied: “He has also put eternity in their hearts.”
God has wired us to long for something beyond this life. No earthly season—no matter how joyful or successful—can satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart. Sometimes God even uses disappointment to remind us of that truth. A young athlete who breaks his arm while pitching isn’t just facing a physical setback. He may also be learning that his identity was never meant to rest in baseball alone.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 says, “I know that all God does will last forever. There’s no adding to it or taking away from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him.”
Even the hardest seasons can become invitations to know Him more deeply.
Don’t Miss the Season You’re In
Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 says, “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all of his efforts.”
It’s easy to spend our lives looking ahead. Parents of young children often find themselves wishing for the day when life slows down. Then the kids grow up, and many of those same parents would gladly go back for one more bedtime story or one more noisy dinner around the table. The next season isn’t necessarily easier. It’s simply different. Every stage of life brings its own challenges, and every stage brings gifts that won’t come around again. Don’t rush through the season God has you in. Don’t let hardship keep you from seeing what He may be teaching you today.
The Promise of Beauty
The promise of Ecclesiastes isn’t that every season will be easy. It’s that God isn’t finished. You may be living through the weeping, the mourning, or the tearing down. The beautiful part may still be ahead. But God’s Word remains true: He makes everything beautiful in His time.
The freedom we celebrate as Americans came at a great cost. Men and women gave their lives so that future generations could live in freedom. In an even greater way, the freedom we have in Christ came through the sacrifice of God’s own Son. As we steward both those freedoms, may we also learn to steward the seasons God gives us. The same God who was at work before this nation was founded is still at work today, accomplishing His purposes in ways we often won’t recognize until we look back.
And when we do, we’ll see that He was making something beautiful all along.