Tuesday 18th April
Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.” (NIVUK)
All these various times are set ‘under heaven’ (in God’s eyes). This suggests that all of these activities are determined by him. This becomes clearer if the literal translation of verse 2a is used.
“A time to give birth and a time to die;” (Ecclesiastes 3:2a) (NASB).
Whilst most translations would have us lean towards reading these verses individually, encapsulating our birth and our death, the Hebrew implies something slightly different. There is ‘a time to give birth and a time to die’ – making us see the link between generations. Individuals come and go at the behest of God himself. No-one chooses when they become the next generation of humanity or when their time ends.
The Teacher is almost forcing us to consider that great passage of ‘generations’ in Genesis 5. The time to give birth is enumerated, as is the moment of death, all linked together in one long chain. Is that how you consider your existence? Or is it more about your individual moment of birth and upcoming death. Neither approach has any room for individual control over the beginning and end of our lives – it is entirely determined by God.
The agricultural pairing reinforces God’s control of ‘the times’. The farmer does not determine when to plant and when to harvest – he simply recognises the God-ordained time to do so and responds accordingly. God determines the ‘seasons of life’.
Jesus links these ideas together also… “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:26-27) (NIVUK). That God determines the seasons, and yet also cares for us, is a comfort beyond measure.
