By Dennis Pollock
In the little Book of Ecclesiastes, we read:
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted… (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
Solomon goes on to list many more “times” to do things, but you get the point. We are told that our lives are filled with seasons, and sometimes one season may be the very opposite of another. And wise is the man or woman who rightly discerns the season he finds himself in.
“In Due Time”
Certainly, the Bible speaks often about God doing things at precisely the proper time. He has His own seasons. We read that “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6). And just prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the launching of the church, the Bible says: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1). In Galatians Paul writes: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” (Galatians 4:4). God works and schedules His work based on timing, and in Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us that we should respect times and seasons as well. “To everything there is a season.”
I want us to think a little about screenplays. When we watch television programs or movies, we usually don’t pay much attention to the scripts and screenplays that were used to make those dramas. Everything seems so natural that it almost feels as if these actors are simply ordinary people saying whatever is on their hearts. But of course, that is not the case. The truth is, behind that show or movie, there was at least one or maybe several writers who wrote out the exact words that each actor is to say, and even the way they are to say it. The actors who entertain us follow a script that was pre-written for their character, without the writer even bothering to ask their opinion about it. Before they ever show up on the set to record the show or movie, they have already been given a script that reveals precisely what they must say, and the scenes in which this drama will take place. It is not their job to make anything up; it is their job to say their words and act their part in a natural, believable manner.
If the scriptwriter is on the set, he or she is never surprised at the various scenes, dialogue, and action that take place during the recording. Unless there is some serious ad-libbing, everything happens just the way he wrote it. In a way, the writer is more responsible for the success or failure of the program than the actors. Good acting can never make up for poor scriptwriting.
Our Personal Script
There is a script for our lives, and we did not write it, nor were we given a vote about it. God Himself is the author of our life’s screenplay. He has determined what gifts we would have, and what scenes, major and minor, would make up our own personal movie that we call life.
What I am talking about here is something we Christians call “the will of God.” And it is our job to follow God’s will as closely as we possibly can. No ad-libbing for us! And we will certainly experience many different scenes. No decent movie would use the same scene and the same actors throughout the entirety of the movie. If you watched a movie that began with four people talking in a living room, and that never changed, if by the end of the movie you still have those same four actors talking in the living room, you would surely consider this one of the most boring of all movies. We expect different scenes, and that is always the case.
So, it is in our own lives. Our scenes will change from season to season, according to the prerogative and the scriptwriting of our Heavenly playwright. People will come in and out of our lives, and we may change jobs, churches, homes, locations, and many other things. In some cases, we make those changes on our own, but at other times, changes are thrust upon us suddenly. We may be blindsided by devastating loss for which there was not even the least hint that it was coming. Our scene has changed, and we find ourselves in a place we never thought we would be or wanted to be.
Here’s the Difference
The big difference between the actors and us is this: before an actor ever begins, he has the script in his hands that tells him what he will be doing at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the movie. He can read over that script in an evening and know exactly how the story will go. But in real life, we do not have that luxury. We may get an idea of what our day will look like; we may have a pretty good idea of what the next few months may entail, but we are never certain. God keeps His script for our lives a closely guarded secret and insists that we live by trusting His goodness and providence.
When an aspiring actor first gets the call from the director or producer and is told that they are offering him a role in the movie, it is an exciting time. But when we get accepted to join the heavenly cast, it is beyond exciting! Of course, I am talking about salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul writes: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…” (Galatians 1:15-16). Paul had been adopted and birthed into the family of God through faith in Jesus, for the purpose of preaching Him to the Gentiles. He got a partial script, but much of what his life and ministry would involve would be revealed over time. Some scenes would be joyous and thrilling, others not so much. And so, it is with us. In God’s providence, He reveals His Son Jesus Christ to us, and we receive Him by faith. We don’t get the entire “script,” of course, but we know that we are to live a life pleasing to God, serving Him, and being a blessing to others. And day by day and year by year, the details for that script are filled in by the Holy Spirit, as He reveals God’s will to us for the season we find ourselves in. And at the end, we will recognize that God’s script for us was a very good one; indeed, it was perfect.
