Humans make their lives worse by ignoring this ordering, but they are limited in what they can gain by recognizing it. Now the Teacher is ready to face directly what had only been hinted earlier (the opening creation poem, in 1:4–11, and the comments in 1:13, 15): the role of God in all of this. This is the key issue for this sage with regard to human activity: no one can affect or change the times and seasons that God has determined. God is the one who gives