Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
It was in 1965 that the Byrds recorded their hit record Turn, Turn, Turn, but I wonder how many people knew that the lyrics quoted the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3?
This well-known passage of Scripture does one of two things for us: It either reminds us of the hope we have in Christ, or it can leave us feeling rather depressed and without hope.
The key to which side you’re on, is Jesus.
Life in this world is a strange mixture of joy and sorrow, harmony and conflict, life and death. Despite our desire to be in control, more often than not, we find ourselves just being swept along, and we so easily become overwhelmed by our circumstances.
Which is why it is good for us to be reminded that something lies beyond this life.
Solomon wrote in verse 11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
For many Christians, we become frustrated because that longing for eternity that Solomon wrote about is something God has put within us, but we feel kind of trapped at times.
Of course this life can be wonderful. We have all experienced some tremendous joys and happiness, only to be reminded just how fleeting those moments can be.
So it takes faith and trust in God to humbly accept what we are in this world and confess by faith that God knows what is best for us.
1 Peter 1:23-25 says, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This should remind us of our eternal nature, and that God is ultimately in control. This is our hope.
Someone once said that we can either be satisfied with what we are or not – that is our choice, but it is only when we are in Christ and He is in us that we will ever be at peace with who we are. He is the one who makes all the difference, even and especially when we feel that we are struggling through life.
We can take courage in the reality that God is sovereign. He is almighty, and we simply cannot understand His ways at times.
But when we are at peace with Him through Christ, we rest in the knowledge that nothing happens without a purpose behind it.
There are different times and seasons in our lives, and it takes faith to recognise them and serve and glorify God in those seasons.
Why were we not born 100 years earlier or later than we were? Because God is ultimately in control, and He directs our paths. Your life is not an accident. God has known you since before you were conceived, and His ultimate purpose for you is to acknowledge Him as the source and meaning of your life.
The choice to follow Him of course, remains ours, but once we are in Christ it becomes easier to make sense of life’s good and bad times.
Not that we will ever fully understand God, because we never will, but our lives lose the meaninglessness, when we trust Him and confess by faith that God is sovereign.
It takes great faith – only a faith that God can give us – to echo Paul’s words in Galatians 2: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Until we reach the point where we recognise and trust the superior wisdom of God, we haven’t really begun to fear God. This fear is not an abject terror of God, but rather a respect and honour for Him.
When we try to live our lives without recognising God and His glory and power, we soon find ourselves as King Solomon described people without hope: empty, dissatisfied, and restless, feeling that life is miserable and meaningless.
The secret of life is the presence of God Himself.
Most of life’s challenges come when we try to deny the sovereignty of God – when we want to be in control, and Christians are not exempt from this.
We remain sinners – forgiven, yes, - but each of us still struggles with our fallen, sinful nature, and so God, by His Spirit, gives us the faith we need to remain in His grace.
And we know He does this because of what Jesus did for us at Calvary.
We read the first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3, but we need to continue to read from verse 9 in order for Solomon’s words to make sense.
“What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before Him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” (9-17)
It may not look like it now, but God will bring beauty out of all that happens for His people, His elect. Remember that He has put eternity in your heart. These things will pass, and if you are in Christ, He has prepared eternity for you.
1 John 5:10-13 tells us, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because He has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Your life doesn’t have to feel like it is meaningless, just drifting along with no purpose or direction. It is only when you rest in Christ that you will ever be able to make sense of whatever it is that troubles you today.
It is all and only about Jesus, and the saving grace He has offered to you. Turn to Him in faith, and He will give you the strength and grace to face today and all of your tomorrows.
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
It was in 1965 that the Byrds recorded their hit record Turn, Turn, Turn, but I wonder how many people knew that the lyrics quoted the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3?
This well-known passage of Scripture does one of two things for us: It either reminds us of the hope we have in Christ, or it can leave us feeling rather depressed and without hope.
The key to which side you’re on, is Jesus.
Life in this world is a strange mixture of joy and sorrow, harmony and conflict, life and death. Despite our desire to be in control, more often than not, we find ourselves just being swept along, and we so easily become overwhelmed by our circumstances.
Which is why it is good for us to be reminded that something lies beyond this life.
Solomon wrote in verse 11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
For many Christians, we become frustrated because that longing for eternity that Solomon wrote about is something God has put within us, but we feel kind of trapped at times.
Of course this life can be wonderful. We have all experienced some tremendous joys and happiness, only to be reminded just how fleeting those moments can be.
So it takes faith and trust in God to humbly accept what we are in this world and confess by faith that God knows what is best for us.
1 Peter 1:23-25 says, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This should remind us of our eternal nature, and that God is ultimately in control. This is our hope.
Someone once said that we can either be satisfied with what we are or not – that is our choice, but it is only when we are in Christ and He is in us that we will ever be at peace with who we are. He is the one who makes all the difference, even and especially when we feel that we are struggling through life.
We can take courage in the reality that God is sovereign. He is almighty, and we simply cannot understand His ways at times.
But when we are at peace with Him through Christ, we rest in the knowledge that nothing happens without a purpose behind it.
There are different times and seasons in our lives, and it takes faith to recognise them and serve and glorify God in those seasons.
Why were we not born 100 years earlier or later than we were? Because God is ultimately in control, and He directs our paths. Your life is not an accident. God has known you since before you were conceived, and His ultimate purpose for you is to acknowledge Him as the source and meaning of your life.
The choice to follow Him of course, remains ours, but once we are in Christ it becomes easier to make sense of life’s good and bad times.
Not that we will ever fully understand God, because we never will, but our lives lose the meaninglessness, when we trust Him and confess by faith that God is sovereign.
It takes great faith – only a faith that God can give us – to echo Paul’s words in Galatians 2: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Until we reach the point where we recognise and trust the superior wisdom of God, we haven’t really begun to fear God. This fear is not an abject terror of God, but rather a respect and honour for Him.
When we try to live our lives without recognising God and His glory and power, we soon find ourselves as King Solomon described people without hope: empty, dissatisfied, and restless, feeling that life is miserable and meaningless.
The secret of life is the presence of God Himself.
Most of life’s challenges come when we try to deny the sovereignty of God – when we want to be in control, and Christians are not exempt from this.
We remain sinners – forgiven, yes, - but each of us still struggles with our fallen, sinful nature, and so God, by His Spirit, gives us the faith we need to remain in His grace.
And we know He does this because of what Jesus did for us at Calvary.
We read the first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3, but we need to continue to read from verse 9 in order for Solomon’s words to make sense.
“What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before Him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” (9-17)
It may not look like it now, but God will bring beauty out of all that happens for His people, His elect. Remember that He has put eternity in your heart. These things will pass, and if you are in Christ, He has prepared eternity for you.
1 John 5:10-13 tells us, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because He has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Your life doesn’t have to feel like it is meaningless, just drifting along with no purpose or direction. It is only when you rest in Christ that you will ever be able to make sense of whatever it is that troubles you today.
It is all and only about Jesus, and the saving grace He has offered to you. Turn to Him in faith, and He will give you the strength and grace to face today and all of your tomorrows.