A Time for Everything
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
As a parent, it seems like there are long stretches in life when I don't talk to my kids about anything of real great significance. Of course we discuss day-to-day things such as friends, school, church, activities, and things about God. And those things are important but they seem like the normal day-to-day stuff. But just in the past month or so, for our family, it seems like we've had some very significant conversations about life. Maybe in your family you have too.
The passage in Ecclesiastes 3 reveals there is a time for everything under heaven. The author speaks of life and death, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, silence and speaking, war and peace. In fact, the poem includes 14 opposite actions, each of which happens in its time. Many of these are things which our family has been experiencing recently and figuring out how to process. What can we say to our kids? In many cases, we don't even know how to feel about these things ourselves.
The scripture passage reflects the highs and lows, and constructive and destructive seasons, that we all experience in life. During this time, I ask myself how do I hold the grief and loss in my family AND celebrate our kids' milestone graduations all at the same time? How do I scatter and gather? With all the civil unrest and conflict in our world today, how do we process what it means in scripture to "tear and mend," "love and hate," "war and peace?" It's challenging enough when one of these things arise. It's especially difficult when these things all seem to be happening at once.
This passage is sobering. God's Word does not ignore the difficulties of life, including lament, injustice, and oppression. We see that there are things out of our control, things that are difficult to see. But in verse 11 the author affirms that God is in control. God in His providential plans has a time for every activity. This is part of the eternal, inscrutable sovereignty of God. And so, of the many things we should do, we must continue to trust in Him. Verse 11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." While we may not fully understand why some things happen when they do or the way they do, we know that God is at work making all things for good in His time. Let us look to Him and depend on Him to guide us through each day.
God Bless,
Pastor Darren
