May 9 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 9—Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

¹For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ²a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Devotional:

The famous poem of 3:1-8, quite possibly the most popular passage from Ecclesiastes, is a beautiful composition about the never-resting tides of time. It opens with the outer limits of our human experience in life: "A time to be born, and a time to die." This line embracing the beginning and ending of our life in this world sets the stage for the entire poem. We cannot determine the time we appear on the stage of the world, nor can we know when our time is up. While it is true that all the following verbs bespeak or at least imply human action, being born and dying are not actions. It is more correct to say that we are acted upon. God ultimately is the acting agent, he is the one who gives and takes life. But since the beginning and ending of human life are in God's hands, we are to read the rest of the poem under the same premise: we are caught in the crossfire of the times and seasons which God has ordained for every stage in life.

This thought already inheres the introductory line: "A time for every purpose under heaven" (3:1). The word "purpose" implies design, and the design of the times belongs to God. So all the contrasting statements in this composition are descriptive—not prescriptive—of what happens under the sun. The poem merely describes how we experience the passage of time without issuing commands. To be sure, there is an appropriate time for every human endeavor, and we are to discern what is appropriate, whether we should "break down" or "build up" (3:3), but we can only hope to find the appropriate action within the situation and framework that God has determined.

Human experience is rendered in terms of polarities. On one side we have the pole of life and happiness, on the other the pole of death and suffering. Sometimes we are pulled in one, then in the opposite direction, as contrasting occasions of life befall us who are subject to them. The poem also implies that we cannot simply jump from one good and desirable thing to the next, so as to skip an occasional journey to the valley of tears. For every good idea there comes a counter thought; it is inevitable that we get our share of both good and evil.

Viewed from a distance, the poem abandons us to the happenstances of life and thus could leave us with the impression of restlessness and a persistent uncertainty. All this is true in some sense, but we are not merely abandoned to a random universe in which there is neither plan nor purpose. This is still our heavenly Father's world, and he has never made nor ever will make a mistake in orchestrating the passage of time.

The Psalmist came to the same conclusion: "My times are in your hand…" (Ps. 31:15). The words of the apostle Paul speak to our hearts even more clearly, words that he wrote in full view of the cross and resurrection of Christ: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:28, 38-39). That should cover everything, shouldn't it? What remains for us is that we find words of praise for him at all times, knowing that we do not have to understand what happens to us in order to rest in him. It is enough that he knows.

The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.