A Time For Everything
There is probably no other verse in the scriptures than Ecclesiastes 3:1-6, that is so popular even in the secular realm. The song “Turn, Turn, Turn (There is a Season) became one of the rally songs of the Vietnam War in the 1960’s. It was a song of protest and had very little to do with its Biblical contexts.We want to take a closer look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-6 and put it back to its Biblical roots. King Solomon writes: “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 from embracing, 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.” God is the Creator of time. Genesis 1:3-5 tells us, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” You see here that God called the light day and the darkness night Genesis 1:14-19 goes on to say, “And God said, Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.” So God divided the days and months and the years. He created the seasons, which were for planting and harvesting. When it comes to being born and dying again we see that God determines both Job tells us in Job 14:5, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” The Psalmist writes in Psalm 39:4-6, “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.”
I could go on and on with scriptures that tell us the same thing, that God knew us before we were born. He has written every day of our lives. Yes, God even tells us when we should laugh and when we should mourn. Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” James 4:8-9, “Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.” Ecclesiastes 7:1-5, “A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.”
God ordains everything in our lives. Isaiah 45:7, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” God even brings down one nation and raises another or He will raise one king up and bring down another. Psalm 75:6-7, “For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”
Dan 2:20-21 “May the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the periods; He removes kings and appoints kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to people of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”
1 Samuel 30: 8-9, “And David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue everyone.” So David left, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed.”
Even in a time of war we see God determines when it is right to advance. So we have seen that when it comes to times and events in our lives it is God who brings all things about so we should seek God regarding everything in life.
Proverb 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
God created time and He created the seasons and, yes, to everything there is a time and to everything there is a season and God determines them both.
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