A Time for Every Season

A Time for Every Season

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Focusing on the material things of the world is vanity because those things are fleeting. As a part of this insight, he mentions that everything has its own time and place. There is an ebb and flow to life that means things are always changing.

Christians need to understand this. Many times we can be consumed with searching for a perfect state of being where discipleship is easy. Yet what the author points out is that life is full of change. What is true in one moment can change in an instant. Following God means that we can adapt as these changes unfold. Let us examine a few of these contrasts in Ecclesiastes 3:1-12.

A time to weep and a time to laugh. In Philippians, Paul tells us to rejoice always (Philippians 4:4.) He commands this even as he sits in prison. It is a reminder that joy and patience can look different in many situations. When Job loses all of his possessions and his children, he blesses the Lord (Job 1:21). While this was a great act of faith, it did not mean that he did not feel sorrow. We see that he sits silently for seven days in his grief. When he finally speaks there is an outpouring of pain. As a Christian, we will go through highs and lows. Feeling anguish does not diminish our faith. There will also be a time of love and laughter with God’s family. There is room for both of these attitudes in our lives.

A time to seek, and a time to lose. As we grow and mature in our lives, the things we chase after will change. It may be appropriate to search after a specific job or career in one phase of our lives, only to realize that it hampers us down the road. It takes wisdom to know the difference. Even in our faith, the Hebrew author exhorts his brethren to move past the elementary doctrines (Hebrews 6:1). There was a time that it was appropriate to focus on those. But as they grew in faith, God expected them to study deeper issues as well. At times we may hold onto things that were helpful to our faith in the past, but if clung to too closely can shipwreck us now.

A time to break down, and a time to build up.  These can be applied both to ourselves and to others. There is a time where we need to encourage and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also need to build upon our faith. Yet it is possible for our efforts to be disrupted by another building in our path. When this happens, we need to root out the current building so there is room to build up what God desires.

As Solomon discusses here, the life of a Christian is never stagnant. We will always be changing, adapting to the circumstances around us. We cannot allow the fact that disruptions happen to keep us off our path. Instead, we must continue to fear God and keep His commandments. The wisdom that comes from following Him will allow us to tackle whatever challenges we find.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1