I know this letter will be long enough just covering today’s material and so I’ll get right down into the heart of today’s Bible study:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  Since I already introduced the idea of the section in the last letter, I’ll assume this letter is a continuation of that one and not introduce the idea again, right?

(3:1) “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

I sometimes express this idea like this:  God is making sure every possible circumstance occurs so that in eternity no one can say there was something necessary omitted in history.  To the world, God will give every possible opportunity to sin.  For his children, God will provide every possible temptation to sin and every possible way of suffering so that it is clear that His grace will always triumph in our lives.  Everything that occurs is necessary in His perfect and complete plan of the ages!

(3:2) “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”

Just as we accept birth as being God’s gift to us, so also we must accept death as being perfectly under God’s control and equally for our blessing.  In a later passage of ECCLESIASTES, Solomon will even instruct us that the day of one’s death is, in certain ways, better than the day of one’s birth!  It is of more profit!

It is easy to see that life and death are totally in God’s sovereign hands, but…all the rest of the things mentioned in this list seem smaller, like things we control.  By faith alone we realize that these smaller choices are also under God’s rule and that we must submit to that rule to receive His blessing in our labor.  We must even plant our seed or pull out our plants according to His timing of these things!

(3:3a) “A time to kill, and a time to heal;”

This is not speaking of euthanasia, for sure!  Nor is this speaking of any form of wicked murder.  Rather, in history, due to sin, a Christian must kill in times of war as well as for justice to avenge criminal sin.  “He that sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6).

(3:3b) “A time to break down, and a time to build up;”

Many things may need breaking down:  houses, cities, nations, bad friendships, or anything at all when it is earning judgment and wrath (Matthew Henry here).  But if there is repentance, then the time comes to build these same things back up with tenderness and patience.

(4) “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

God calls us first to sober reflection on life and out of such proper sobriety will also arise joyfulness.  All circumstances of testing and danger and trouble and death lead us to see our human depravity and to weep and mourn.  But when God comforts us and leads us to see His salvation in these things, then He also gives us joy which causes heartfelt singing and laughing and “dancing.”

This kind of dancing, of course, has nothing in common with the modern, sex-centered dance.  It is the spontaneous leaping of joy by one who is overwhelmed with the praise of God.

(5a) “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;”

Here in Minnesota, and even more so in Wisconsin, we know well what it is to walk the fields and remove stones which pop up every year, but don’t belong there!  (I recall one young man in Wisconsin insisting that “stones grow” because every year he could see them coming up all over again).  We also throw stones—or anything else, for that matter—away if they are useless in anyplace.  But we gather them together for any needful purpose:  sometimes merely to study them but usually to use for such purposes as jewelry, building walls or dams, landscaping or architecture.

(5b) “A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing”

Embracing is proper in any faithful expression of honorable friendship, but improper when that friendship is no longer trustworthy or when there is any public feeling that supersedes the friendship.  It is obviously proper to embrace when meeting a family member or when married.  It is also obviously improper to be embracing at a funeral or even in any public service.

(6) “A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;”

Whenever God gives us anything (friends, children, spouse, money, things, wisdom, knowledge, love…), it is the time to get it.  When God takes it away, we must lose it and willingly give it up, laying all on the altar of love for Him.

(7a) “A time to rend, and a time to sew;”

Garments were to be rent in olden days as tokens of grief.  Later they were sewn back up when the grief was over.  This can be applied figuratively to many situations.

(7b) “A time to keep silence and a time to speak;”

We have to learn when to keep quiet and when to speak up!  It takes God’s grace to learn this.  Our hearts must always learn to “keep silence” before every Word of God, whether in worship services or in any other hearing of His voice or even in hearing His voice in nature or through events.  Once this Word humbles us, we must in responsive meekness speak that same Word wherever God calls us to speak it, applying it to all of our lives.

(8a) “A time to love, and a time to hate;”

We must love all that is of God and hate all that opposes Him.  This love-hate antithesis is true first of all towards ourselves, for we must hate our old nature of sin, but love all that God works within us according to His Word.  This love and hatred then unfolds also in the same way in our relationships with everyone else:  if they are showing responsiveness to God, we love that; if they display hatred towards God and break His commandments, we must have nothing to do with that but rather rebuke it.  We must love righteousness and hate sin, always!

(8b) “A time of war, and a time of peace.”

Because of sin, God sends His judgments in wars and rumors of wars, which are a fact of all earthly history and which we must accept.  But God also ends these wars for short periods of time to remind us of our hope for a final, lasting peace in eternity, in Christ.

As we said in the last letter, wisdom on our part is to seek to “redeem the time, for the days are evil.”  May God grant us contentment with His rule and wisdom to discern His will.

1.  Restate 3:1 in your own words.  This is an amazing thought.  Do you believe it?

2.  a. What does it mean to “pluck up”?

b. How does God control the time for planting and harvesting?  Apply GENESIS 8:22.

c. What does 3:2a have to say about “birth control”?  Anything?

3. a. What is meant by “a time to heal”?

b. How do the two halves of 3:3 fit together?

4. Some people deny that it is proper to express our emotions.  What does verse 4 say about this?

5. When is it right and when is it wrong to embrace?  To what extent is this “Christian liberty”?

6. What are the things which verse six says we “get…lose…keep, and …cast sway”?

7. How could anyone non-sinfully tear things up?

8. Show that we usually “keep silence” and “speak” just the opposite of when we should.

9. What must we love and what must we hate?

10. Is 3:8b limited to the wars of nations?