A Time and Place for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck 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;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw 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 of war,
And a time of peace.

This set of truisms has touched many hearts after being mad into a popular song in 1966 by the Byrds.  The first verse puts it all into perspective for us with God letting us know the wisdom of realizing that everything in life has both a time and purpose as the world turns day by day.  The purpose is from above as part of God’s providence and sovereign provision for each one of His people and everyone the world in general.  The seasons of God’s working along with our actions and reactions are covered in verses 2-8.  First of all there is a time for everyone to be born, which is God putting us into existence at the prescribed time of His predetermined purpose which we call predestination.  This is a planned event and not just God looking ahead to see us as we are born; there is purpose in all He does.  Likewise, we have predetermined times to die and return to our Maker for His judgment (Hebrews 9:27, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 5:18).  We are not masters of our own fate as some philosophers would have us believe to the dishonor of God in our disbelief.  God plants and we reap what we sow, but He is the one who has the say on when we are plucked out of the earth He planted us on.  Yes, there are times to kill as in war or in punishment, but there are also times given according to His word for healing in order to build others back up in restoration instead of simply breaking them off from life; we find these biblical principles in our own criminal statutes.  Furthermore, the Lord gives us times to experience both sorrow and joy, laughter and tears, mourning and dancing.  We find loss in life and we find gain by the grace of His good and sovereign will for our benefit (Romans 8:28).  There are times given us to rid ourselves of sinful things which harm us as well as times to gather what we would throw away in order to build something better in our lives, like casting away stones or gathering them in order to build with, embracing or refraining from holding things close to us for our good.  Yes, there are both times to lose things as well as to gain them as we learn the understanding of the wisdom of what to keep and what is bad for us no matter how it appears.  God’s word is the foundation of the choices for our disposition of all our choices.  We throw away what is bad according to God’s standards, not our own which stand in opposition to His.  This is divine wisdom to know the time and place of all things in our lives for His good purposes under heaven where He rules from as an omnipotent but loving Sovereign.  We see also there are times to tear away and times to mend, times to be silent at a distance and times to be close by to put back together in our own and other’s lives.  We do not and should not always try to mend everything and everyone.  Wisdom guides us to intervene or not according to His word.  Above all, there are times to love and times to hate certain things; we love others but not everything they do or say, for instance.  There are times to do battle and times to seek peace and reconciliation in the physical and spiritual kingdoms.  May we seek the wisdom to choose well in discerning the times in all these matters.  Amen!