It's Time

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

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 from embracing,
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.

                                                                        Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Familiar words, lots of subject matter, excellent poetry.  Remembering these statements are a part of the Bible brings us to believe the basic truth of verse 1, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:"

Read each line in the verses above and see if there is an application for you.   In the first one we know there was a time for us to be born, but how was that time determined?  Was God's hand in it?  Did he actually determine our birth date, long before we were born?  Staggering questions, but there is a larger picture here.  It also says there is a time to die?  Does God determine that, too?  If we believe the beginning of our lives was under his direction, can we say the same about when our lives end?  More questions to ponder and search for answers.

The section of this scripture I want to focus on this weekend is the last line of verse 7,

"a time to be silent and a time to speak,"

This line about a time to be silent and a time to speak, often comes back to us when we say something and wish we hadn't said it.  We wish we could take the words back.  We realize there was a time when we should have been silent, and we were not.      

And how many of us remain silent and kick ourselves later for not speaking up?  These wise words from Ecclesiastes can cause us to look at our own lives and see some applications.  So again I encourage you, read each line and see if there is something God wants to bring to your heart.  There is truth here we all need.

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