Everything Has a Time
The
opening line of this well-known passage always challenges me. For everything there is a season – everything
under heaven has a time. Think about
that claim for a second. At times we
think of this only in positive terms. We
like to think about this with respect to the stuff that we like. But there is a time for everything. Evil will prosper for a time. There is a time for failure. There is a time for disappointment. There is a time for death.
I really
don’t like thinking in these terms. I
don’t want to encounter death with the perspective that it happens to be the
time for it. I don’t want to have to encounter
those moments where I work hard and fail with the perspective that it is just the
time for failure. I want to get angry
and say that it isn’t fair. I want to
get upset and declare that I’ve been wronged!
Now don’t
get me wrong. There is a reason for
death. We’re told in scripture that the
wages of sin is death. So the only
reason there is a time for death is because we live in a sinful world. In fact, that’s true for just about
everything. The only reason there is
killing, the only reason there is weeping, the only reason there is mourning,
the only reason there is loss, the only reason there is hate, and the only
reason there is war is because we live in a fallen world.
I think
that is the really deep portion of this passage. The deep philosophical meaning of this
opening passage in this chapter is simple.
There is a time for good things because God is in this world; there is a
time for bad things in this world because this world is fallen. Just to be clear, those famous people that
made this passage into a song never even spoke about the sin and religious
element to this passage. There may be a
time for everything. But the only reason
that is an acceptable reality is because of our sinfulness.
Eternal Results
The middle
section of this chapter returns us back to a topic of which we spoke yesterday:
toil. The outcome is really the same
today as it was yesterday. Is there
anything that man can do that will last forever?
Pause for
a second and ask yourself that question.
We built the pyramids. But are
they deteriorating? We built carvings on
Mt. Rushmore. Those haven’t lasted
nearly as long as the Egyptian pyramids.
We build huge infrastructures out of steel and concrete (bridges,
buildings, roads, tunnels, etc). But those
are in need of constant maintenance. Can
anything that mankind built last forever?
No. As the author indicates, we need to focus on
the things that we can build with God.
That which God builds lasts forever.
When we are God’s tools in building His disciples, those last
forever. When we are God’s voice in
speaking words of truth, those words last forever. What’s more is that Solomon tells us that the
work of God is joyful. There is nothing
quite like discipleship. There is
nothing quite as enjoyable as knowing that a person is growing in their faith
towards God because of what God is doing in their life. That joy does last forever.
We also
hear that we cannot add anything to God’s work or take away anything from
it. I think this is very profound. So often we want things to be about us. So often we even think that if we are doing
God’s will we could still have our name be praised about how good we are
helping God. But it isn’t about us. It isn’t about what we add to God’s
plan. It is about simply doing God’s
plan and giving God the glory. That’s
where we avoid vanity.
The Final Reality of Human Existence
As we look
to this last section, we find it is a continuation of the middle section of
this chapter. Nothing we do can affect
the reality that we die. Nothing we do
changes the fact that ultimately we will go before God and hear the verdict of
judgment upon us. Thanks be to God that
we live knowing that through Jesus we have forgiveness, grace, and mercy! But in a way, that is exactly Solomon’s
point. We can’t change the fact that we
will be before God. If we cannot change
it, we shouldn’t waste our time pursuing things that are just going to make us
guilty. If we are going before God, we
might as well work in unison with God!
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