The Book Of Ecclesiastes Pt. 7 The Times & Seasons Of Life

God has ordained purposes and times for everything. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 

This next section is a beautiful poem that captures the orderliness of God's creation. 

This text teaches us that we live in a world of change, that the many aspects of time, and conditions of human life, are vastly different from one another.  

We are continually passing and repassing between these changing circumstances, as each day, week, month and year passes by.

God has appointed every change concerning us, and the times and seasons are unalterably fixed. 

They are put in place by our Creator and we must take things as they come, for it is not in our power to change what is appointed for us.

Day will give way to night and the night will yield again to the day. Is it summer? It will eventually turn to winter. Is it winter? It will eventually turn to summer. 

Every purpose has its time. Clear skies will be clouded, and the most clouded sky will clear up as the sun bursts from behind the clouds.

A time to be born and a time appointed to die. 

Ecclesiastes 3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 

There is a time for each person to be born and there is an appointed time for each of us to die. We cannot alter this because our life is in the hands of God. He alone knows the number of our days. 

Psalm 113:9  He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  

Children are a great and precious gift from God. Each child brings joy to his mother and God should be praised for blessing our homes with children.

Children are a heritage from Jehovah. They are a living inheritance temporarily given to us by God, to train and shape them into people who love and serve God. 

Psalm 90:10-12  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11)  Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12)  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

A person may live to be about 70 years of age, and with good genes, he may reach 80 years old. Yet, our life here on earth is compared to a morning fog that dissipates when the sun shines on it. 

The Psalmist teaches us to number our days. That is, we must become acquainted with the brevity of life, so that we seek wisdom from God and live for His glory.

Why? Because it is appointed unto man once to die, and then to face judgment before God. This is why I share the gospel and stress the need for each of us to be born again into the family of God. 

Then we will appear before God our Father, and we will be robed in Christ's righteousness. 

Therefore, there is a time when each of us was born and there is a time each of us will die. We cannot change it because God put it in place. 

There is also a time to plant and a time to pluck up or harvest. We cannot change the seasons that God ordained. 

If we try to plant our crops in the dead of winter, they will fail because spring is planting time. 

If we try to harvest in summer, we will not gather much, for the harvest of grains, fruits, vegetables will not be ripened unto fall. 

A time to kill and a time to heal. 

Ecclesiastes 3:3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 

There is a time to kill. Solomon is speaking in the judicial sense, of a criminal tried and found guilty, and  put to death. Or, a time of defensive warfare, to protect our homeland. Murder is a sin and the time to kill does not include murder. 

There is a time to heal. We may sustain an injury, or need to recover from surgery. We may have been ill and in need of rest in order to heal. There are times when we need to stop and allow our bodies to heal. 

Hosea 6:1  Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 

God may smite individuals or nations with an injury or illness because He has ordained a time to heal. 

God chastened His people many times in the Bible because of their sin and rebellion against His Word. 

Thus, enemies would tear them and smite the people. When they repented, God sent relief to them (See the book of Judges).

King Hezekiah was ill and Isaiah told him to prepare to die. The king prayed fervently to Jehovah and the LORD sent his prophet back to heal the king (See 2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38:5-21). 

There is a time to break down, such as when Judah persisted in idolatry and refused to hearken to the LORD's prophets. God then allowed the Babylonians to overthrow Jerusalem and carry the people away. The walls and gates were broken down and burned. 

There is a time to build up and several of the good kings such as Hezekiah, rebuilt the defensive structures to protect Jerusalem from the Assyrian invasion. 

The king had an underground water channel dug from solid rock so that Jerusalem would have water when the enemy surrounded the city (2 Chronicles 32:1-8). 

Thus, there are times to build. 

A time to weep and a time for joy.

Ecclesiastes 3:4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

There are times in life when we weep and mourn. We may be mourning over the death of a loved one. It may be due to receiving some personally devastating news. We may be weeping from the weight of life's sorrows and trials. We may be weeping because of a wayward child. 

There are times in life where we laugh and dance. We can thank God that He gives us moments of relief from stress, so we can laugh at the funny incidents of life. 

There will be wonderful times that we can celebrate milestones in our life and in other's lives. Birthdays, graduations, marriage, childbirth, and academic or vocational achievements of those we love, are worth celebrating. 

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather them.

Ecclesiastes 3:5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

There are times we must cast away stones. Farmers often have to remove stones from their fields. We have often hit stones when digging holes to plant something, and we must remove the stones. 

There are times we must gather stones. Many fence rows in New England are made of stones gathered from farmer's fields. They are repurposed to form a protective barrier. 

Last year, we put several thousand pounds of stone around the foundation of our sunroom, so that critters could not dig under the room. Thus, we gathered stones and placed them where they were needed. 

There are times when we embrace those who are sorrowing, grieving or suffering. There are times when we are the ones needing to be embraced. 

Yet, there will be times when we or those we know, are not suffering. An embrace is not needed in those times. 

A time to obtain things and a time to cast them off.  

Ecclesiastes 3:6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 

There is a time to get or find things. We may get a better job in order to provide better for our families 

There is a time to keep and a time to cast away. We may refrain from helping someone if we know that they are lazy and refuse to work, when work is available (See 2 Thessalonians 3:10). 

Yet, there will be times we liberally give or cast away our resources to help those in genuine need. God blesses us when we do this (See Proverbs 11:24).

However, perhaps we allowed something or someone to become an idol, taking precedence over God. 

We must then cast away anything that diverts our affection from the Lord Jesus Christ (See Mark 9:43; Luke 10:40-42).

A time to rip apart and a time to mend it. 

Ecclesiastes 3:7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 

There are times when things are torn apart, such as when God split Israel into two nations, due to Solomon's disobedience (1 Kings 11:30-31).

There may be times when we figuratively rend our garments, because God's people have strayed far from Him. 

Yet, there will be a time when God will bring His people back as one nation (Ezekiel 37:22). He will sew them back together like mending a torn garment. 

The prophets often rent their garments and put on sackcloth and ashes, and fasted and prayed, as they sought the Lord's direction.  

Amos 5:13  Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. 

There are times to keep silent, such as at a national tragedy, like 9/11. In evil times, it may be best to refrain from speaking. God may be bringing heavy judgment upon a people or a nation due to their flagrant sins. 

Yet, there are times we must speak. God's prophets had to bring the message of God's judgment to a people who often did not want to hear from God. 

2 Timothy 4:2-4  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3)  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4)  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 

In our morally corrupt culture, many people do not want to hear about sin, perversion, prejudice or depravity. Yet, we are commanded to preach the word in season and out of season. 

We must preach the word when it is popular and when it is unpopular to do so. We must declare what God has said, and warn people about sin. We must trust God to reach hearts as we share His word of judgment.

A time to love and a time to hate. 

Ecclesiastes 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 

There will be times of love and peace. This happens when Christians love Jesus by keeping His commandments. 

It happens when we love one another as God loves us. It happens when our mind is regenerated by the Spirit of God, and we begin walking in newness of life. We enjoy peace with God through salvation by faith in Christ. 

We also must share God's eternal truth in love with others, seeking God's best for them.

There will be times to hate. God's law says that we must love our neighbor, and if we say we love God, but hate our brother, something is very wrong. Solomon is not talking about hating your relative or friend or neighbor. 

So what is it that we must hate and war against? Remember, we are part of the spiritual warfare that is going on all the time. 

Satan fights against the very purposes of God. He fights against Christians, especially when we truly seek to walk closer with the Lord.

We must hate our old man, that sin nature which we all inherit from Adam. 

We must hate our fleshly lusts and the sins that so easily beset us. 

We must hate the corrupt culture that spews its polluting degradation all around us. 

We must hate Satan's works and war against us, by putting on the whole armor of God. 

(See Ephesians 6:10-20; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Romans 7:15-24; 1 Timothy 1:18; 6:12' 2 Timothy 2:3-4; 4:7).

Thoughts to Ponder...

I pray that we recognize the goodness of God in establishing these very distinct patterns of life. 

I pray that we learn from Solomon not to fight against the purpose God has for each time and season of life we go through.

Rather, we should seek to embrace each time and each season of life, knowing they are good gifts from our Heavenly Father.

Let each Christian seek to do his or her part to make this world better, by living out the will of God, and by rejoicing in all His wonderful provisions for our lives. 

Let us be those who praise God during times of weeping and times of joy. 

Let us be those who labor for the Lord, when it is easy to do so and when it is hard. 

Let us be His faithful servants and share the gospel with the lost ones around us. 

Bob