To everything there is a season

To everything there is a season

Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

These words, from a book of Proverbs written thousands of years ago by wise King Solomon, became a surprise hit for the Byrds in the song charts in the Sixties. They go on to say there is ‘a time to every purpose under heaven’.

Few would disagree with what Solomon goes on to say. There is a time to plant and a time to reap, as every farmer or gardener knows. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to be silent and a time when we should speak up. Life is full of ups and downs and it is not always going to be easy.

These wise words also teach us not only to expect times of sorrow as well as of joy, but that there are appropriate emotions for each occasion or experience. It would be wrong to dance and rejoice at someone’s funeral just as it would be wrong to be a miserable wet-blanket and prophet of doom at someone’s wedding. When someone is grieving we ought to grieve with them; when someone is happy we ought to be happy. Empathy is just as important as sympathy.

The first couplet of the section is one that brings us up very short. We are reminded that ‘there is a time to be born and a time to die’. In this modern society we don’t like the face of death and we steer away from the prospect of it. Someone once said, however, that the only certain thing about life is death. God reminds us of that here. He also reminds us that ‘it is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgement’. If the beginning of life and the end of life are inevitable so is the after-life; and that will be one of judgement should we not fear God and seek His grace now.

Is there also a time to get ready for death and judgement? Yes. That is the wisest thing. Do not leave it to the last minute to put things right with God. Now is the best time to seek God. God wants to receive now and forgive now all who trust Him – Now. There is a time for every purpose and the time to seek God is today – not tomorrow. Then ‘everything will be beautiful in its time’ chapter 3:11.