Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter
under heaven:
3:2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up what is planted;
3:3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a
time to build up;
3:4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time
to dance;
3:5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time
to throw away;
3:7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak;
3:8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time
for peace.
3:9 What gain have the workers from their toil?
3:10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be
busy with.
3:11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has
put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot
find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy
and enjoy themselves as long as they live;
3:13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and
take pleasure in all their toil.
I. The Sovereignty Of God v.1 ". .time for every purpose under heaven. ."
II. The Specifics vv. 2-8
III. The Struggles Of Live vv. 9-11 A. Our involvement vv. 9-10 B. The implications
v.11
IV. The Special Grace From God vv. 12-13
Merry Christmas! (The twelve days are not yet finished - in my first pastoral charge,
people bid each other Merry Christmas whenever they met someone during the twelve days.
Trick for me, as I moved from village to village, was remembering who all I had already
seen....)
I was looking at the Whole People of God background notes, which focus on the
completeness symbolized in the 14 pairings (double 7), as well as the pairing itself that
indicates wholeness. My mind connects this to yin-yang.... different culture, but do the
concepts align?
Modern Western culture emphasizes either/or, not balance/and...
just thoughts.
have a good year and a good century.
peace
kent in Québec
I've always had trouble with some of the verses of this passage. "A time for war ... a time for hate ... a time to tear down." I don't think God ever wants us to tear someone down or to make war or cause hatred. Some Christians have used these verses to justify hateful deeds. Maybe these words aren't God's words at all; rather they are the words of the teacher who is observing life and then tries to make sense of it. The teacher's conclusion is that we are called to enjoy life as much as possible, despite death, sorrow, and grieving. What the teacher is saying is that life is a gift from God and that we honour God by enjoying life to the fullest. Puritans had an entirely different view, didn't they.
Rev Karen from Ontario
Rev Karen,
You Don't see God as tearing down- destructive. DOn't you read the Bible? Old testement over and over states. Chosen people, Isreal I gave you the Land, GO KILL EVERYONE, EVERYTHING! (THE BAN ) in other words on the land. And Revelation which some don't even take seriously, God Will Destroy 1/3 of water, 1/3 land, 1/3 people to this and that until a remnant exist.
Now, God is God and He will do this as He sees fit. We may be uncomfortable with that, but that doesn't mean a cleansing of the earth won't happen!
Personally, in this day in time, as some Prophetic Preachers go with supernatural touch to make waters bitter and so on... I think, it's easy to see Bitter waters can happen with AL QUIEDA making a "dirty Bomb" rendering fresh and sea water 1/3 unusuable. John saw it! But he had to describe it so 1st century peoples could understand, How could John fully appreciate a Holligram, a missile, a computer when they had no electricity. If John did see 21st, 22nd 23rd century things, a locust that kills- look at those funky army helicopters...
