In its Time: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

1 There is a time for everything,
    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,
⁴     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,
⁶     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.

 

 

               If I were to ask the question,  "Hey kids,  does anyone know what time it is?"

a certain generation would immediately  yell out. "It's Howdy Doody time!"   I by the way am not among that generation!  but I do remember being riveted to the TV to watch the Mickey Mouse Club and yes I was one of the millions of boys to have a crush on Annette Funicello.    I knew what time it was when that show was on. 

 

  But I don't think that our passage for today is talking about clowns or cute girls with bunny ears.    But the question, "Does anyone know what time it is?"  is an important one to ponder.

 

From our passage we learn that there are many times and many seasons.  (Frankly I'm looking forward to the season of winter to be over...).  I've read this passage many times and often at funerals to help to comfort loved ones of a deceased.  Indeed there is a time when we will be gathered up with the Lord. 

 

However, its equally important for us to look at the time in which we live right now.  It seems to me that you might say that there are many "times" throughout our day.   Now we all love the positive times of course.  A time to be born, a time to plant, a time to heal, a time to build, a time to laugh, a time to dance, etc.  Oh we love those times but the "negative" times are equally if not often more important.

 

The transitions necessary in life necessitate that we move forward and in the moving forward we often have to give up something.  This is the nature of life.  To get a new job we sometimes have to move away from friends we love.  Sometimes to make way for a new building we have to tear down the old one.  And when it comes to gardening you have to plow under the old each year to make room for the new.  I hate to say this but eventually you have to throw away some of your favorite old shirts that can no longer be mended to make room for more.  In my case my old shirts some how find there way into the "rag drawer".  Shh...  Don't tell my wife but I've been known to wash the old rags and wear them again from time to time.  Well I guess my wife knows that.  

 

I guess all of this goes in the category of change and change is not easy but it is necessary.  God has made our world that way but along with this truth is the promise of verse 11  "He has made everything beautiful in its time.

 

To ponder:   What changes and transitions is God doing or planning for your life?  Can you give thanks to God through the changes knowing that if we trust the Lord he will make all things beautiful.