Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Someone wrote Pastor John Piper and asked:

“… why did God make some people ugly and unattractive? How can I accept the fact that God, though capable of making me beautiful or at least average looking, chose to create in me an unattractive manner? As an unattractive person myself, I can say life is tough for us. Our opinions and ideas are most often sidelined. We have it tough in offices and schools and colleges. I can’t express in words how difficult it is to be confident.”

I can understand where this person is coming from. My earlier years were – in my young mind – a living hell. I nearly failed first grade until the teacher noticed me squinting at the blackboard. A trip to the eye doctor showed I was not unintelligent, but unseeing – I needed glasses. When the teacher wrote on the blackboard, I couldn’t clearly see what she wrote. Mama asked why I never said anything about it to anyone. The truth is, I was painfully shy, an introvert. A shy child doesn’t speak up!

When I was given eyeglasses, this didn’t solve my problems, but added to them. They were large, black rimmed things that stood out on my face. This gave the bullies a target to aim at. I was a “four eyed freak”. Children try to adjust their lives according to peer pressure, but what do you do if your “peers” are all against you? As self esteem plummeted, my weight increased. Add to this that I had to wear my dad’s white socks, and as I grew my dad’s old clothing. Well, the school years were rough. I have yet to have any desire to attend a “High School Reunion”.

There are many others in life who suffer terribly because they are different from the crowd. One who comes to mind is Joseph Merrick (August 5, 1862-April 11, 1890), also known as “The Elephant Man”. Born with a disorder called the Proteus syndrome, his head and body deformed more and more with each passing day. When Merrick accidentally pushes down a little girl one day, an angry mob chases him. He cried out, “I am not an animal! I am a human being. I am a man!”. There are many born into this world deformed, against what many consider the “norm”. In this world little children are sometimes born with terrible diseases. St. Jude’s Hospital ministers to children born with cancer. There are many things that appear ugly to us in this world.

Why would a loving God allow the ugly, the disfigured, the carnival “human freak show”?

It Is Because God Is Loving That We Have That Which Some Consider “Beyond The Norm”

Ecclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

Word Study: As Solomon – the wisest man who ever was – looks at the “travail” that is on mankind, he writes “which God hath given”. God ultimately either causes or allows everything that ever happens within the framework of humanity. The word translated “travail” is the Hebrew עִנְיָן ʻinyân, {pronounced in-yawn’}, which means “miserable or evil work”. The word is only used in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon in essence is saying “I have seen how people have struggled at work – toiling slavishly”. God gave to man and woman hard – often horrible – circumstances to go through. But the fact that God gives it does not diminish His love.

God took a perfect Adam, and placed him in a perfect Eden. The Bible says:

Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This was an absolute. God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of a man, that He should change His mind (Numbers 23:19). What God has said will always stand. “The day that you eat of it you shall surely die” is the promise of God’s Law. We all know the story. What did Adam do? He disobeyed God. He ate of the forbidden. The promise of the Law was “The day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. The very day you disobey Me, said the Lord, you “shall surely die”. Did this happen? Well, yes and no.

On the day that Adam did what he was not supposed to do, both Adam and Eve’s “eyes … were opened” (Genesis 3:7). Humanity fell under spiritual death. The Bible says:

Romans 5:12 (ESV) … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”. It was ADAM who brought sin into the world, not Eve but ADAM. When ADAM ate that which was forbidden, both he and Eve his wife died spiritually. But they did not die physically until much later. Why? Because:

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

God is JUST, and does as He promises. But God is also LOVE, and offers redemption to the sinner. Adam physically lived 930 years before he died. God had told Adam, “in THE DAY you eat of it, YOU SHALL SURELY DIE”. If God were purely justice, and purely Law, then Adam and Eve and any progeny would have been destroyed by death on the day Adam sinned. Instead, God kept His Word by allowing Adam to live physically, but cast Adam and Eve out of Eden for they were both spiritually dead. .

The Law demandsimmediate death for sin.
The Love of God demandsgrace to the sinner.

As Solomon speaks of our lives as “travail” {ʻinyân}, the very fact that we are here at all is due to the love of God. God could have destroyed humanity, but Love found a way to give us life. However, the punishment for sin corrupted not just humanity, but nature itself. God told Adam:

Genesis 3:17-19 Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The Law of God demanded death, but the Law of God gave grace and life. Since Adam’s fall, the Bible tells us that creation itself became warped by sin. The Apostle write of this, saying:

Romans 8:19-23 (ESV) For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The whole creation groans in suffering because of Adam’s sin, but still exists because of God’s Love.

Creation groans until the day when the Children of God are fully redeemed, when with glorified bodies we come back to this earth to reign with Jesus. The Apostle said that on that grand day, the “creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”. Man and nature are bound together by God in the Garden, and bound together by sin outside of the Garden. What a glorious day it will be when sin reigns no more! Sin will be no more on God’s earth when Christ rules from His millennial Kingdom. When Jesus returns,

Isaiah 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

There will come a day when sin will be totally eradicated from this earth. But until that time, there will be cancers, sicknesses, deformities, ugliness. There will be the fading strength of old age. On top of this, sometimes God allows these sicknesses so that He might reach yet MORE with His glorious Gospel.

God Turns The Bad To Beautiful In His Time

In John chapter 9, Jesus sees a man who was blind from birth. The disciples asked Jesus:

John 9:2 … Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

The Jews knew – and taught through the Old Testament scriptures, that sin – the sin of Adam – brought sickness and deformity into the world. Was this man blind because of his “parents”, his heritage? Or did this man himself sin, and by his sin bring the sickness upon himself? Jesus tells His disciples:

John 9:3-5 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

This man was born blind so that we could see Jesus healing him. Our Jesus is “the light of the world”. Light is useless to a blind man. But Jesus is miraculous light, the Light that gives sight to those who cannot see. This man was allowed to be sick to showcase the glorious Gospel of Christ.

Adam’s sin brought sickness and deformity into a perfect world. But there is yet another reason for suffering and deformity. In Luke 13 our Lord Jesus encounters a woman while teaching in the Synagogue:

Luke 13:11 (ESV) behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

When Lucifer the Arch Angel rebelled against God, he enlisted a third of the angels of Heaven (Revelation 12:4) to follow him. These are creatures we call “demons”. This woman was disfigured for eighteen years because she had a “disabling spirit”. We read:

Luke 13:12-16 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

God makes all things beautiful in His time!

Her deformity was because Satan had afflicted her by sending one of his followers to her life. Jesus banished that demon and that precious woman was healed. But once more we see the Love of God in action. When Lucifer rebelled against God, and led a third of the angels in Heaven to follow him, the love of God allowed that devil and his traitors life for a time. But the day is coming when Satan and his followers will be cast into a lake of fire, to be bound forever more.

If You Are Afflicted Run To The Arms Of Jesus

Ecclesiastes 3:11 {God} hath made every thing beautiful in his time

Earlier I shared my testimony, how I felt “less than” and an ugly duckling in my school years. I was given eyeglasses to correct my sight. But I needed more than eyeglasses – I needed Jesus! Finding Jesus at a Youth Rally just before I entered the Air Force, I found my esteem not in

my peers
my strength
foolish drugs
mind numbing alcohol

but in JESUS. The woman afflicted by the “disabling spirit” is just like many in our America today. People feel “less than”, so they are seeking normalization through that which Scripture calls perversion or abomination. A pair of eyeglasses did not “fix” all of me, but I needed Jesus. A surgeon’s knife will not fix you. No medical science can fix you. Listen Beloved, just as Jesus healed the woman afflicted with the disabling spirit, Jesus can and will heal you. God promises that He will make “every thing beautiful in his time”.

When you give your life to Jesus, God promises to eventually make you beautiful. Jesus will give sight to your eyes, so you can see as He writes on life’s blackboard.

God will give joy to your heart so that you can feel as He feels. To those who love the Lord, Solomon said:

Ecclesiastes 2:26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up…

Word Study: Jesus gives good to those who trust in Him. But to the sinner who rejects Christ, their lives are confusion and travail” {ʻinyân}. When I was young and bullied, every day was travail” {ʻinyân}. But when I found Jesus, He gave sight to my eyes, and joy to my soul. Fearing God, I ceased fearing man, and the bullies vanished. Elizabeth Cheney (1859) wrote:

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so!”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me!”

The God Who has made you, loves you no matter what you think of yourself. Look to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Are you thirsty for joy? Jesus said:

John 7:37 … If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

I am convinced that the cure to our miseries is Jesus. Come to Jesus with your pain, not to a drug dealer. Come to Jesus with your loneliness, not to a bar or a liquor store. Come to Jesus with what you think is ugly, and let Him have your life. Become His possession. Become His bond servant. Jesus will forgive you of your sins, and by His blood adopt you into His family. The Apostle said to the seeker:

Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

To those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there is “no condemnation”. God loves you for Christ’s sake. When you come to God, God comes to you. He brings His Heaven to your heart. The Holy Spirit comes to walk with you:

Romans 8:11 (ESV) If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

The Holy Spirit comes to bring the life of Heaven into our hearts. Once we receive Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit changes our hearts. We begin to walk with God daily, seeing things as God sees them. We are loved. We are adopted into the Family of God. We are not ugly, but beautiful in God’s eyes. We are Heaven bound! The Apostle said:

Romans 8:14-18 (ESV) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

There is a glorious Heaven waiting for those who are owned by Jesus. But better than that, there is a glorious life awaiting those who belong to Jesus NOW. He has said “I will never LEAVE, nor FORSAKE you”. He will be with you every step of the way, if you will give yourselves to Him. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Do Not Allow Yourselves To Be Robbed
Of The Beauty Found In Jesus

On this earth, all suffer because of sin. Do not sell yourself to sin. Sin is the “thief who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy”. Jesus Christ came to be your Shepherd. Our Shepherd gives us “life, abundant life” (John 10:10). Jesus knows your aches and pains. He suffered so that you can enjoy the love of God.

You may not know this, but Jesus was not beautiful according to man’s standard.

The Scripture says of Jesus:

Isaiah 53:2 (ESV) … He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

When you get to Heaven, don’t look for Jesus using the pictures that people made, pictures that hang in museums and homes, and even in my office. Jesus had “no beauty that we should desire him”. When you get to Heaven, look for Jesus by looking for the scars on His hands, head, and feet. When you see those scars, you will know this is Jesus. Because He died for you and I, we will inherit the Heavens, and a new earth. God will make everything beautiful in it’s time. That is, if we have received Him as Lord and Savior. There is a better day coming for the child of Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Word Study: The word translated “the world” is the Hebrew עוֹלָם ʻôwlâm, {pronounced o-lawm’}, which would be better here rendered as “eternity”. God has put “eternity” in our hearts. We know that there must be something more than just this life. God has put a hunger for Heaven in each person’s heart. We know that this world is not as it should be. When I read what Solomon wrote, “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end”, this sounds so much like:

1 Corinthians 2:9 … Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Our limitations only point us to a wonderful future where all things are possible, and all hurts are erased. Augustine wrote:

“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” (Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 1)

This world and this suffering that we are going through is but temporary for the believer in Christ. “Our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). God has prepared a city for us (Hebrews 11:13-16), a place where no suffering shall be. A better day is coming. Look to the Lord Jesus! Rest in the Lord Jesus! May God draw you into His embrace this very day. Amen and Amen!