This is the chapter with which I am the most familiar walking into this series. However, finals season in school and my car accident this week have put this series back several places in terms of importance for me.
Also, this chapter is very difficult for me to wrestle through right now. I feel like I had a near-death experience this week, so reading the words “there is a time to live and a time to die” raise a few emotions within me to say the least.
I believe these 22 verses help all of us wade into the reality of life, from death to life, from wounds to healing, mourning, dancing, weeping, speaking, peace, war, silence and speaking. As I sit here constantly aware of the brevity of my life, trying to type with my scratched up hand that decided to punch the windshield, I resonate with the words of Qoheleth, the writer of Ecclesiastes. I nod when I read, “For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?” I cannot see beyond my lifetime; I cannot even tell you when my lifetime will end. But I can live my life today and I can respond to life with flexibility, peace, creativity and gratitude that I get to take another breath. After not, is not every breath I take in a gift from God?
Maybe I am just pensive and overly deep after the events of this week. But I ask you, when you read this chapter and think about your life, what resounds within you? Can you find yourself and your experience here? What is your response to God, based upon the life you are experiencing today? Wade in and comment below. I would love some company.
-Scott
Ecclesiastes 3 (New International Version)
Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
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,
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.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account. [a]
16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I thought in my heart,
“God will bring to judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time for every deed.”
18 I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [b] ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal [c] goes down into the earth?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
Jump In the Water is Fine….
I’ve always had a problem with someone who tells me to just jump right on in. A couple of things come to mind is the first time I trusted someone I dove off the edge of the boat and ended up buried up to my shoulders in DesMoines river mud. The second time is when I first experienced a sauna and my friends yelled at me to just jump right in…ever seen a red head shoot back out of the water like a dolphin? And now after reading this and Scott with you waving me to just jump in…naw…I’ll pass. I’ll try a little bit slower shallow wading before the big plunge.
These passages would take a life time to unravel and at 55 (of course rounding up unlike Max), I’ll summarize. There is always a time for something…the greater question is do you take the time when you have the time or do you filter out the list and say this is a raining day project when no one is playing football.
However what really captured my attention was, “22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?”
I think this is the critical thought here. Are you happy just going through life and not leaving any finger prints as evidence of your existence? Or is this like a biological clock that goes off in your head to have children to take up where you left off? Or maybe some set down and write a book just to have bragging rights that there words have been immortalized? Or maybe even a pastor who uses notches on the side of the baptism tank as evidence he did some good.
To what degrees do you measure that you left the world, humanity, or even friends with a better life? I think this says it all, “An average Christian can only expect average results.” Who’s happy with average?
Michael
7
Okay a little bit more research and I have to believe that my common sense stopped and didn’t continue to the rest of Ecclesiastes. I found a little bit more peace actually in Ecclasiastes 8-16.
“When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth-his eyes not seeing sleep day or night then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims to know, he cannot really comprehend it.”
In a breath…15-it’s better for a man under the sun to eat and drink and be glad.
Per the Law of Michael: If it’s too big to move go around it and enjoy the trip.
Michael
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