Everything is part of God's plan
Text Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 Time 12/06/2005 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We begin to day on the second section
of Ecclesiastes, which, I remind you, can be divided into four parts.
This second part begins in 3:1 and goes on to the end of Chapter 5.
Again it is probably a good idea to have a look where the writer is heading to understand how to take this part. So look at 5:18-20. There Solomon says
Then I realised that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labour under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
So he is making three points here.
1. God wants us to live in a way that is good and proper. It is way that is satisfying.
2. Indeed it is God’s gift to know how to enjoy life and to be content.
3. Such a man is so taken up with God that he has no time to worry about death or such things.
This, you will recognise is quite similar to the conclusion we came to in the first section where the writer says
1. Contentment cannot be found in human wisdom
2. True contentment is found in God alone
That is why we need to look to God for wisdom, knowledge and happiness and take warning against going on in our sins. Indeed if we look at life properly we will see that it is not the bleak and monotonous thing that we may be misled into thinking
So let’s turn this week to 3:1-15 and see what we find.
The words themselves consist of an introductory statement - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven followed by a set of 14 contrasting pairs beginning with the most obvious – to be born, to die and including all sorts of contrasts in the life of an individual, things such as planting, uprooting; weeping, laughing; loving, hating, etc. The words a time are therefore repeated 28 times. Clearly it is a poem about time. The basic message here is that every single thing that happens in our lives happens because it is the will of God. He appoints the times and seasons not just of the weather and things like that but of every single event. It is all in God’s hands.
Let’s think about that for a moment. 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: We do not choose when things will happen.
3. a time to kill and a time to heal. What about animals and the seasonableness there? Or think of how plague and illness work. The unpredictableness of death.
4. a time to tear down and a time to build.. We can say the same about buildings.
5. a time to weep and a time to laugh.. Thinking again of men and women.
6. a time to mourn and a time to dance. Perhaps the phrasing here is influenced by desire for alliteration.
7. a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. Are we thinking a building, a field, a military operation? At one time stones seem useless an unneeded, then you realise that they are needed to build. Stones are neither good or bad in themselves. In life we are often finding that sort of thing. Things become useful.
8. a time to embrace and a time to refrain. Hellos and goodbyes. Think of the Beatles song "I say hello, You say goodbye". Frustration. Sometimes we need to embrace an idea or a project. Other times we refrain.
9. a time to search and a time to give up. Moving on from the familiar and the known to other less familiar things. Possessions. We all know this experience.
10. a time to keep and a time to throw away, this follows on.
11. a time to tear and a time to mend tearing clothes in grief, sewing them up again.
12. a time to be silent and a time to speak In life’s calamities this is important and difficult.
13. a time to love and a time to hate sometimes people hate us, sometimes they love us. Things vary. There is a place for hatred in life – hating evildoers, our own evil deeds.
14. a time for war and a time for peace. This too.
There is a beauty about everything in this world. This because God made it good in the beginning. Even the les attractive things have a beauty that springs from the way they contrast with other things. In the beginning God made light and darkness. Darkness is not beautiful in itself but when it comes on contrast to the light (think especially of sunrises and sunsets) it has a great beauty. This is the work of God - 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Cf raindrops, flowers, spider’s webs, etc.
Yet and here is what makes it so frustrating they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Try as we like we cannot fathom the mystery either of creation or of our own souls. There is something profound here, a depth that cannot be plumbed. We cannot appreciate the beauty of creation as much as we ought; we cannot know as much about it as we would like; we cannot understand it to the depth we would like. There is the problem not only of knowing all there is to know in a given area but also of fitting into an integrate whole with all the other things we know. It is beyond us.
And so he says (12, 13) I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God. There is an enigma about life and there will be until we can learn to enjoy life and do good. To find satisfaction is a gift from God and until we realise that we will make no real progress at all.
So why then does God not imply give the gift of having things and enjoying them to everyone? Solomon says (14) I know that everything God does will endure for ever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Whatever else is so we know that in God there is permanence, effectiveness and no interference. How different to all we know. It is part of God’s purpose then to encourage us to look to him, to fear him and give him honour. To fear God is to trust in him and lean on him in everything. Turn from impermanence to permanence, from what can do nothing to his effectiveness and to the one with who no-one can interfere.
Again it is probably a good idea to have a look where the writer is heading to understand how to take this part. So look at 5:18-20. There Solomon says
Then I realised that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labour under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
So he is making three points here.
1. God wants us to live in a way that is good and proper. It is way that is satisfying.
2. Indeed it is God’s gift to know how to enjoy life and to be content.
3. Such a man is so taken up with God that he has no time to worry about death or such things.
This, you will recognise is quite similar to the conclusion we came to in the first section where the writer says
1. Contentment cannot be found in human wisdom
2. True contentment is found in God alone
That is why we need to look to God for wisdom, knowledge and happiness and take warning against going on in our sins. Indeed if we look at life properly we will see that it is not the bleak and monotonous thing that we may be misled into thinking
So let’s turn this week to 3:1-15 and see what we find.
1. Look around and see that God is
in control of all that happens
3:1-8 are among
the most famous in the Bible. They became very popular in the sixties
when a folk musician called Pete Seeger put them to music with the
chorus Turn, turn, turn and
they were then sung by the American pop group The
Byrds. I suppose the reason people like
it is because it is poetic and as it is only stating facts then it
cannot be argued. People tend to put their own meaning into it,
however. Pete Seeger, quite an anti-war fellow, took the final line a
time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace
and just added the words ‘I swear
it’s not too late’. That is, of course, adding to Scripture and
puts a whole new twist to what is being said. Some biblical
commentators have been tempted to add their own commentary to the
effect that this is some sort of allegory of Israel or of the church.
This again is not convincing.The words themselves consist of an introductory statement - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven followed by a set of 14 contrasting pairs beginning with the most obvious – to be born, to die and including all sorts of contrasts in the life of an individual, things such as planting, uprooting; weeping, laughing; loving, hating, etc. The words a time are therefore repeated 28 times. Clearly it is a poem about time. The basic message here is that every single thing that happens in our lives happens because it is the will of God. He appoints the times and seasons not just of the weather and things like that but of every single event. It is all in God’s hands.
Let’s think about that for a moment. 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: We do not choose when things will happen.
1. a time to be born and a time to
die. Cf Conan Doyle. Man tries to be in control. He is not.
2. a time to plant and a time to
uproot. Think of vegetables and plants – similarly. Again,
you can’t just do it when you like.3. a time to kill and a time to heal. What about animals and the seasonableness there? Or think of how plague and illness work. The unpredictableness of death.
4. a time to tear down and a time to build.. We can say the same about buildings.
5. a time to weep and a time to laugh.. Thinking again of men and women.
6. a time to mourn and a time to dance. Perhaps the phrasing here is influenced by desire for alliteration.
7. a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. Are we thinking a building, a field, a military operation? At one time stones seem useless an unneeded, then you realise that they are needed to build. Stones are neither good or bad in themselves. In life we are often finding that sort of thing. Things become useful.
8. a time to embrace and a time to refrain. Hellos and goodbyes. Think of the Beatles song "I say hello, You say goodbye". Frustration. Sometimes we need to embrace an idea or a project. Other times we refrain.
9. a time to search and a time to give up. Moving on from the familiar and the known to other less familiar things. Possessions. We all know this experience.
10. a time to keep and a time to throw away, this follows on.
11. a time to tear and a time to mend tearing clothes in grief, sewing them up again.
12. a time to be silent and a time to speak In life’s calamities this is important and difficult.
13. a time to love and a time to hate sometimes people hate us, sometimes they love us. Things vary. There is a place for hatred in life – hating evildoers, our own evil deeds.
14. a time for war and a time for peace. This too.
So all this vast number of activities
works together to remind us of how far out of our control all things
are. God does as he pleases. Even the world talks about the
importance of timing, the seasons, ideas coming to their time, etc.
We must see that this is all God’s doing. It is all in his hands.
It will teach us patience and to look to him. One writer likens the
list to a doctor’s ingredients. Taken alone they might kill but in
the proper proportions this is real life.
2. Look within and see that God has
put eternity there
This all leads to the question in 9
What does the worker gain from his toil? Sounds familiar. Well,
it is taking us back to 1:3 What does man gain from all his labour
at which he toils under the sun? The answer is obvious, despite
what people think and say man can change nothing on his own. With all
his effort and work it is God, in fact, who does his will.
1. See that what we have has been
given to us by God who makes it all beautiful in its time
10 I have seen the burden God has
laid on men. This is it isn’t it? How little we can do. How
powerful is God who does it all. How frustrated we can get with
things sometimes.There is a beauty about everything in this world. This because God made it good in the beginning. Even the les attractive things have a beauty that springs from the way they contrast with other things. In the beginning God made light and darkness. Darkness is not beautiful in itself but when it comes on contrast to the light (think especially of sunrises and sunsets) it has a great beauty. This is the work of God - 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Cf raindrops, flowers, spider’s webs, etc.
2. See that he has linked it all to
eternity
Further He has also set eternity
in the hearts of men. Man was made in God’s image and there is
something unfathomable about man. Yes, in one sense we seem finite,
like the animals but there is clearly more to it than that. There is
something everlasting about the soul of man. It is immortal. Life
makes no sense without eternity.Yet and here is what makes it so frustrating they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Try as we like we cannot fathom the mystery either of creation or of our own souls. There is something profound here, a depth that cannot be plumbed. We cannot appreciate the beauty of creation as much as we ought; we cannot know as much about it as we would like; we cannot understand it to the depth we would like. There is the problem not only of knowing all there is to know in a given area but also of fitting into an integrate whole with all the other things we know. It is beyond us.
And so he says (12, 13) I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God. There is an enigma about life and there will be until we can learn to enjoy life and do good. To find satisfaction is a gift from God and until we realise that we will make no real progress at all.
So why then does God not imply give the gift of having things and enjoying them to everyone? Solomon says (14) I know that everything God does will endure for ever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Whatever else is so we know that in God there is permanence, effectiveness and no interference. How different to all we know. It is part of God’s purpose then to encourage us to look to him, to fear him and give him honour. To fear God is to trust in him and lean on him in everything. Turn from impermanence to permanence, from what can do nothing to his effectiveness and to the one with who no-one can interfere.
3.
Look forward and see that despite the monotony God will bring it all
to account
Finally, Solomon says here Whatever
is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will
call the past to account. See 1:9-11. All things are by the
will of God, good and bad. At times it seems to make no sense.
However, there will be an accounting at the day of judgement. The
addition here is literally ‘God seeks what is pursued or hurried
along’. Is it about the persecuted or things displaced or the past?
There is some argument but whatever it is it seems to be saying, yes,
all seems to be hurrying along rather predictably even monotonously
but there is more to it than that. God is I control and he will
demand an accounting from all of what happens. Never forget that.
