Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt there was something you were supposed to do, but you couldn’t quite figure out the time to go for it? For the last teaching in our series, Under the Sun, we’ll see what Solomon has to share with us in the book of Ecclesiastes about how to discern the right time to take action and how to move forward once you know.
Read Ecclesiastes 11.1–10.
When God places dreams and passions in our hearts, and we’re not sure when to act on them, we find ourselves constantly asking, “When?” Solomon gives us four wise and practical points for how to answer this question.
1. Don’t Wait To Act Until You Know All There Is To Know
One of the crucial insights Solomon gives when it comes to discerning the right time is that we’ll never know all there is to know about the situation that we’re facing. Taking a risk in the face of a big decision can be scary, but when we become so fixated on trying to figure out the future and knowing everything there is to know about the decision, we never move forward.
Question: What stops you from taking action on a passion God has placed in your heart?
2. Don’t Wait To Act Until You Think You’ve Got A Sure Thing
There are numerous aspects of our life that are out of our control. We can often believe we are in the driver’s seat, but every day, the world and events around us shape and impact our flourishing or failure. If there’s a dream in our hearts waiting to be born, we can’t wait until we feel we have every detail of our lives under our command. We can be as prepared as possible, but there will always be factors beyond our control.
3. If You Attempt Nothing, You Won’t Succeed In Anything
When we become so scared of failing that we stop moving towards our dreams, we’re still failing, just in a different way. Failure on some level is inevitable for anyone attempting to do great things and turn their dreams into reality, but wins are inevitable as well. Let’s not refuse to act because we’re afraid of failure, but act in spite of it!
4. Go Do Something!
Verse six tells us, “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Ultimately, Solomon is calling us to go do something. God doesn’t want us running into all situations rashly—there are seasons of waiting that must be prayerfully discerned—but God is biased towards action and uses our action to advance His kingdom.
Read John 5.17 and Proverbs 3.27.
God is always active, sustaining and creating. When we start moving on the burdens of our hearts, we actually start to participate in the flow of God and join in His work of redeeming and restoring the world.
Question: How does the phrase “Go do something!” initially make you feel? Is there any action you can take today towards a dream or passion God has given you?
But how do we really know what we should take action on? Solomon gives us two pieces of advice.
1. Move In The Direction Of Your Heart
Moving in the direction of your heart doesn’t mean gravitating towards what’s cool and temporarily fulfilling; it’s about the process of discerning the burdens God has placed in your heart and how they align with the purpose God has for your life. Every person will one day stand accountable for their lives before God. The question we’ll face won’t examine whether or not we were happy, wealthy or lived in popular neighborhoods, but if we invested our lives in the most life-giving ways and exhausted our gifts, passions and resources to glorify God.
Question: What need or issue makes your heart beat fast?
2. Make Sure Your Heart Is Moving Towards Christ
When we spend our lives listening to the call of Christ and act in ways that honor God’s name, what we do in this life will matter for eternity. Through Christ, what we have been called to do matters. We can only recognize our purpose when our hearts are moving towards Christ. When we are actively trusting Him and leaning into Him for guidance, God uses and blesses our faithful actions beyond our wildest dreams.
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