and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build," Ecclesastes 3:1-3
It's the time the dash (on a tombstone) that matters -- the time between when you are born and when you die. It's not enough just to live our lives. What are we doing with them?
The world wants to stop aging. Try to control time. We can't.
"a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing," Ecclesiastes 3:4-5
You are not accidental. Your circumstances aren't accidental. In the above verses Solomon writes from negative to positive. In the next few verses he does the opposite:
"a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:6-8
In the end, it just is (the negative and the positive of life). We have no control over our births.
The question is, do we even matter? Are we a mere speck of dust? The world thinks people re expendable. God doesn't! God says each and everyone of us is here for a purpose, is here because He loves us.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
God wants us for eternity.
"What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race." Ecclesiastes 3:9-10
"By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19
The world thinks it is all a treadmill. If you base your life on the world, you will not be satisfied.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11
This (the above verse) is where it all changes. Beauty! Eternity is in our human heart/mind.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
God has His hands on everything.
Our birth:
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb." Psalm 139:13
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:5
"So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27
We don't know the reasons, but we do have a desire to know. There is a biological imprint in our DNA for a desire for eternity and God. Our knowledge is only what God shares with us.
"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
"I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.' Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
Our life and our work are gifts from God. Nothing is better than "to be happy and to do good." He has work for us to do.
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Matthew 6:20
He wants us to do His work. He created us specifically how we are. God's plans aren't our plans. The only things that will last will be the stuff we do for Jesus.
How do we live?
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12
The secret? Walking in the will of God.
We live for eternity but live in the moment.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him." Ecclesiastes 3:14
"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." Colossians 1:16
The meaning is not in the contrast. God's incorporating all of them into His plan. He then invades our experiences. Time doesn't matter to God, but we do. He gives us a life so we can experience it and Him. Our mortality was decided by us. Our eternity was decided by Him.