Thoughts on the Book of Ecclesiastes—Part Six

"Timing Is Everything"

  by John G. Reisinger

As we venture further into the book of Ecclesiastes, we must remind ourselves of the writer’s main thesis in 1:2: "Everything is meaningless; all is vanity." These could be the words of a man in despair, ready to jump off a bridge to his death. They could be the words of a man in mid-life crisis who feels insignificant and unfulfilled. They also could be the confession of a burnt-out hippie with thin gray hair, trying desperately, but without success, to retain the appearance of youth. These words could even describe a modern secular humanist who is coming to grips with the true and certain implications of his man-centered philosophy of life. Apart from an absolute confidence in God’s unchanging love and sovereign power, the fatalism inherent in those words is inescapable. Never, though, will they be the pronouncement of a child of God who is walking in fellowship with his Savior. No believer will ever stand on the shores of eternity and cry out, "it was all meaningless." A sure confidence in God’s promise and his power to fulfill his promises affirms the exact opposite of the words "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless." A child of God looks at the same world of reality that produced such a dismal declaration and cries in hope, "Romans 8:28 is true! God does work everything for his glory and my good."

In Ecclesiastes 2:24-26, we encountered the beginning of a radically different world and life view from "All is meaningless." Here is a life with God at the center; here is a world and life view that sees past the sun to the eternal throne of God. This view accords with Romans 11:36 as the accurate philosophy of history.

O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom 11:33-36, KJV)

Wow! What a difference it makes when we put God into the equation! If we draw a one-inch circle with a compass and then add nine more circles, each one an inch bigger than the last one, without changing the center point, all of the ten circles will be in perfect symmetry. Now, move the center point and draw another circle of any size. Everything is askew. That last circle distorts the balance of all the ten previous circles. It is the same with life. Our view of God affects far more than our "church" life; it affects every area of our life.

My wife had a housecoat that had twenty buttons. One day, before she had her coffee, I watched her put the number one button into the number two hole. When she finished buttoning her robe, she had an extra button with no hole. Did she make one mistake or did she make nineteen mistakes? She made nineteen mistakes and she had to undo all of them and start over. If our starting point for understanding life is wrong, then our whole life is wrong. We may sail along with everything seeming to fit, as my wife did with the first nineteen buttons, but in the end, we discover that our entire life was wrong.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 presents the biblical world and life view. It encompasses the truth of both Romans 11:36 and Romans 8:28; all things originate in God and he uses them all for the good of his children. The phrase "there is a time for everything" is one of the best-known and most often quoted texts in the Bible.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (Eccl. 3:1-8, NIV)

Everything depends on correct timing. The right thing at the wrong time may be worse than the wrong thing. Scripture commends those who ‘understand the times’ and act accordingly (see 1 Chron. 12:32). We cannot "understand the times" completely. Some things and times make little sense to us with our finite minds. We can however, learn enough to come to some understanding. "I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all" (Eccl. 9:11, NIV).

In all times and seasons, under all circumstances, the children of God are to be content and joyous:

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. (Eccl. 9:7-9, NIV)

This attitude is possible only if you agree with the Psalmist. "My times [that means all of them] are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me" (Ps. 31:15). The next verse, Psalm 31:16, is a ‘felt’ answer to that prayer: "Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love" (NIV).

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, the writer announces that we are locked into times and seasons the same way that we were locked into nature in 1:4-7. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." In chapter 1, the teacher described the monotonous sameness of nature and our inability to change it. Chapter 3 is his presentation of the constant but unpredictable change from one extreme to another in nearly every area of life. Again, the changes are beyond our control or choice in any way.

Change is pleasant. Who would want all summertime and no fall or winter?

Change is essential. If we had all winter and no spring, we would have an abundance of flowers, but we would have no wheat. We would starve to death in a beautiful environment that smelled good.

Who could tolerate all planting and never a harvest? More positively, how about a life that is all laughter and never a tear? Before we say agree, we had better read Ecclesiastes 7:2-4.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (NKJ)

If we are looking for ultimate meaning, however, the back and forth extreme swings are no better than the endless circles of meaninglessness described in chapter one.

Derek Kidner, in his excellent book on Ecclesiastes, entitles chapter three, "The Tyranny of Time." He says,

Perhaps tyranny is too strong a word for the gentle ebbs and flows described here, which carry us all our days from one kind of activity to its opposite, and back again. The description is pleasing, with its varieties of mood and action and its hints of different rhythms in our affairs. Rhythm itself appeals to us, for who would wish for perpetual spring—‘a time to plant’ but never to pick—or envy the sleepless business we met in the last chapter?

Yet in the context in the quest for finality, not only is a movement to and fro no better than the endless circling of chapter one, but it has disturbing implications all its own. One of them is that we dance to a tune, or many tunes, not of our own choosing; a second is that nothing we pursue has any permanence. We throw ourselves into some absorbing activity which offers us fulfillment, but how freely did we choose it? How soon shall we be doing the exact opposite? Perhaps our choices are no freer than our responses to winter and summer, childhood and old age, dictated by the march of time and of unbidden change.

Looked at in this way, the repetition of ‘a time . . . and a time’ begins to be oppressive. Whatever may be our skill and initiative, our real masters seem to be these inexorable seasons; not only those of the calendar, but that tide of events which moves us now to one kind of action which seems fitting, now to another which puts it all into reverse. Obviously, we have little to say in the situations which move us to weep or laugh, mourn or dance; but our deliberate acts, too, may be time-conditioned more than we suppose. ‘Who would have imagined,’ we sometimes say, ‘that day would ever come when I would find myself doing such and such, and seeing it as my duty.’ So peace-loving nations prepare for war; or the shepherd takes the knife to the creature he has earlier nursed back to health. The collector disperses his hoard; friends part in bitter conflict; the need to speak out follows the need to be silent. Nothing that we do, it seems, is free from this relativity and this pressure—almost dictation—from the outside.

(A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance, the Message of Ecclesiastes, by Derek Kidner, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, p. 38).

Several things from this passage are important. First, change is not bad if God is in total control of all the changes. Second, the real problem for us is not that life refuses to keep still, but that we see such a very small sliver of its movements and we cannot see the big design. If we could see God’s great purpose to bless his people and to glorify himself in everything, our perspective would change. Kidner writes,

We are like a desperately nearsighted man, inching his way along some great tapestry or fresco in an attempt to take it all in. We see enough to recognize something of its great quality, but the grand design escapes us, for we can never stand back far enough to view it as its Creator does, whole and entire, from beginning to the end (Ibid, page 39).

In Ecclesiastes 3:2 -8, the writer uses fourteen couplets to describe a wide range of human activity and experience. He starts in verse 1 with a general fact: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

The writer employs a common Hebrew couplet method. The couplets are meant to describe the two extremes, and by implication, everything in between them. Thus, when a couplet writer pens, "man and woman," he means "everybody." "Land and seas" indicates "everywhere." From the "smallest to the greatest" expresses the two extremes and all that is in between them.

Verse 2a starts with the two most momentous and sure events of every person’s existence - life and death (and everything in between): A time to be born, and a time to die. There was a time, ordained by God, for you to be born. You were no accident. Maybe your parents did not plan your birth, but God did. There is a time, already fixed by God, for you to die. It is an ordained appointment that you will keep, and you will not be one minute late. Your very first event and your very last event, and everything in between those events, is under God’s sovereign control. God picked the day of your birth and the day of your death.

The next three couplets (verses 2b, and 3) show various destructive and constructive activities: A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.

First, the writer mentions planting and harvesting. He could be talking about vegetables and crops. He also could be referring to planting and destroying nations. He may be speaking of ‘planting our roots’ in one place and at another time ‘uprooting’ and moving on.

Second, there is a time to kill and time to heal. He may be thinking in medical terms, but not necessarily just medical. There is a time to amputate a leg to save the person’s life and there is a time to take the risk of not amputating. There is a time to shut off the machine and a time to keep it running. The writer also may be talking about healing or destroying a good or bad relationship. Likewise, we kill a bad business venture and at other times, we hang on and hope.

Third, there is a time to break down and time to build up. There is a time to tear down false hopes and conceit, but other times call for building confidence and self-esteem. There is a time to demolish an old house and start over, but other times we should repair the old one. It also can refer to times when God tears down nations, just as there are times when he builds up nations. This happened in biblical history when God raised up even ungodly nations to use them to fulfill his purpose to punish Israel. Additionally, the writer could be talking about building up or ending a relationship.

Walter Kaiser has an interesting note on this verse:

Having established that the terms of life are fixed for men as well as for the plant world, Solomon teaches that even those situations that seem to be in the hands of men and, therefore somewhat unpredictable - such as the condemnation of murderers by the state to the penalty of death - are likewise embraced in the plan of God. There is a time for executing murderers or destroying enemies in a just war (v.3). (Incidentally, such an action against murderers is favored in Scripture, not because men are sovereign or because society and the bereaved are some how benefited, but because man is so vastly important to God - he is made in the image of God [Gen 9:6]. To kill another person is to kill God in effigy. Thus, the only alternative that the state, God’s duly authorized agent in such a case, has is to show respect for God and for the value of the image of God in man by taking the murderer’s life. Such a moral reason has not been antiquated by any subsequent revelation in the gospel. Can the character of God be offered at discount value in generations to come?) Ecclesiastes, Total Life, by Walter Kaiser, Moody Press, pages 63, 64.

In verse 4, the author deals with human emotions: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Charles Bridges has some excellent comments on this text.

There is obviously a repetition with increasing emphasis. The mourning is the most poignant weeping. The dancing expresses not only the laughter of the lips, but exuberant excitement of the whole man. These are God’s times. Beware of changing them. It is a fearful thing to respond with "joy and gladness" when the Lord of hosts calls for weeping and mourning.

Who has not found the time to weep and mourn? "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7; 14:1). And yet lesson after lesson is needed to make us know the world is a vale of tears. We look around to the right or to the left to avoid this or that trouble. Is not this looking out for some bye-path from the road, where we shall meet neither promises, comfort, nor guidance? Be content with thine appointed lot. The tears of the child of God have more the element of happiness than the laughter of the ungodly. The darkest side of the Canaan road is brighter than the light of a thousand worlds. Yet we may look for a change of seasons in God’s best and fittest time. "Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing -" was the experience of the man of God. Into Job’s bosom was poured a portion "double for all his sorrows." The mouths of the returning captives were filled with laughter, and their tongues with singing (Psalm 136:1, 2).

Let God’s afflicted ones mark the wisdom and grace of these appointments. He giveth both these times in their season. Yea—he maketh the one to spring out of the other. "Joy" is the harvest of the seed-time of tears. "I will make them rejoice"—so runs the promise—"from their sorrow." The sorrow may not "for the present" seem (Heb. 12:11) acceptable to us. But let it be accepted by us. As time rolls on, the special ends of the divine love in the sorrow will be displayed in beauteous arrangement. And that which in the beginning was accepted in dutiful acquiescence, will afterward become acceptable matter for adoring praise. The child of God will acknowledge—"It may be a dark dispensation. But I know it is a wise one. It brings God to me, and I am happy."

But far from us be that anomaly in religion—the gloomy religionist. Truly he is a stumbling block to the world, and a discouragement to the saint. He who lives, as if he were afraid of being happy—as if he doubted his right to be so—as if God begrudged him his happiness. With perverse ingenuity he believes the Gospel to be true for others, not for himself. ‘Look up and be cheerful; honor God and his Gospel’—was the wise counsel given one of this class. Take the balances of the sanctuary. Compare the moment of the night-weeping with the eternity of the morning joy. The vicissitudes of weeping and joy will soon be overwhelmed in one unmingled eternity of joy. This is the only world where sickness, sorrow, and death can enter. And the world of health and joy and life—without sin—without change—without tears (Rev. 21:4)—is near at hand. Oh! let it be in constant view—and him with it, who, ‘when he overcome the sharpness of death, opened this kingdom to all believers.’ (From: Ecclesiastes, by Charles Bridges, Banner of Truth, reprinted 1981).

Next, in verse 5a, we find a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. We gather stones to build a house or a wall and we cast stones out of a field so we can plow it. We gather the stones out of our yard and use them to make a walk.

Verse 5b speaks of showing and withholding affection. There is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. In our culture, it is proper and fitting to dance and laugh at a wedding. The same action, even with the same people, would be improper at a funeral.

The next couplet (verse 6a) contrasts perseverance with knowing when to give up: A time to get, and a time to lose. If we have an incurable disease, there will come a time to stop running all over the world for a miracle cure. Some difficulties have no solutions; when faced with them, we just submit to God’s sovereignty. Difficulties fall into two categories: problems, and facts of life. Many people never learn the difference between a problem and a fact of life. A problem has an answer and we do not give up until we find and apply the answer and solve the problem. A fact of life has no answer and requires we give up and submit to God’s sovereign providence. To treat a problem as a fact of life is to be a coward. To treat a fact of life as a problem is to be a fool.

Verse 6b contrasts a pack rat with a wise and frugal saver. There is a time to keep, and a time to cast away. Yesterday’s useless junk sometimes becomes tomorrow’s priceless antique. Don’t you wish you had saved some of Grandma’s junk that you hauled off to the dump twenty years ago? In 1956, we had a public sale. We had to pay a man $5.00 to haul away two bear-claw tables and an oak poster-bed that did not even garner a $1.00 bid. They would both be worth over $500.00 today. There was also an oak chest of drawers whose worth today I cannot even guess.

My wife and I are both pack rats. We keep saying that we are going to have two garage sales. She will go away for a weekend and I will sell all her stuff and then I will go away for a weekend and she will sell all my stuff. In my case it may take two weekends.

Verse 7a is a variation of verse 6: A time to rend, and a time to sew. I hate new clothes. I could wear the same clothes and keep patching them up until it was almost all different fabric on the garment. In the culture of the Seeker, people displayed sorrow and grief by tearing their clothing. A bride, however, would want to be married in a new dress, and would not consider leaving her father’s house without new linens. Jacob demonstrated his special affection for Joseph by giving his son a new coat. When Joseph’s brothers returned the coat to their father with a tale of Joseph’s death, Jacob tore his clothing and mourned (Gen. 37).

Verse 7b is a well-known and little-practiced truth.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. (NKJV)

The biggest difficulty in all of these couplets lies in knowing which part applies in a given situation. How do I know when to shut up and when to speak up? When is discretion the better part of valor? The people who advocate, "Always speak your mind" usually reveal how small their mind is. It is said, "Better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and have them know for sure you are stupid." We agree that what is cowardly at one time may be honorable and noble at another, but how do we know which action to take in a specific situation? Certainly, Matthew 7:6 applies here, "… do not throw your pearls before swine …"

Verse 8a disconcerts some people who misunderstand the true nature of love: A time to love, and a time to hate. We must not hate individuals unless God’s glory is involved.

Verse 8b is a text for today. There is "a time of war, and a time of peace." This assumes that some wars are justifiable. It is difficult for pacifists to deal with this verse. Their only argument is, "But that is in the Old Testament." There is a time when war is legitimate and necessary, and there is a time when war is both unjust and insane. There is also a time for peace, but never a time for peace at any price. Times of war and times of peace affect our attitude and behavior. What is good at one time may be bad at another.

There are different views on appropriate approaches to chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes. One view sees the writer feeling trapped by a sequence of times or events over which he has no control. He is forced to go through each experience without understanding why. In other words, the chapter is a beautiful, poetic way of saying, "All is meaningless."

Another view is that the writer is a rigid believer in predestination. He is a fatalist who is mad because he cannot anticipate the events in this prearranged (without his consent) timetable. As a result, he cannot enjoy today. It is a blessing we cannot see and anticipate tomorrow. "If we could see beyond today, we often say, but God in love, a veil doth throw, across our way."

The story is told of a Primitive Baptist who fell down the stairs. He picked himself up and said, "Well, I am glad that is over." An Arminian would ask, "What did I do to deserve that?"

I believe the chapter teaches predestination, or else we would be driven to atheism and fatalism. It, however, is not saying, "What will be, will be, whether it was supposed to be or not." It is not even saying, "What will be, will be, only because it was supposed to be." The truth is, "What will be, will be, only because it is an essential piece in the great purposes of our great God." In other words, (1) "Yes, everything happens because God purposed it to happen," and (2) "Yes, it happens at the exact time that God ordained. Predestination, however, does not reflect the actions of a cruel, unfeeling tyrant, running the world as if it were an Ouija Board. No, no! The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ predestinated all things. Our wise, holy, gracious heavenly Father planned each event and every time for that particular event.

Genesis 21:1, 2 illustrates this point.

And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (KJV, emphasis added)

Luke 2:1-5 is another example.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. (KJV)

Why did Caesar issue that decree at that particular time? A historian, a sociologist, and a psychologist may give us three different answers and all three will be partly correct. An economist may say the queen was spending too much on clothes and the royal treasury was getting low. I will not comment on that. The ultimate reason for the tax at that time was that it was the means God chose to move a specific pregnant woman into a specific town, so the birth of her child could fulfill a specific prophecy uttered many years before. We must remember that God accomplishes his sovereign purposes in a world of sin and rebellion, without infringing on the free moral agency of any creature. He uses temporal means to reach ordained ends.

Basically, Ecclesiastes 3:1 teaches that God not only ordains all things, he also ordains the time of their happening. That is the way it is—period—whether you like it or not. The unbeliever hates the very idea of God’s controlling all events and their timing. He cries, "If that is true, then I am only a robot. I am like a trapped animal!" On the other hand, the believer is glad that Jesus rules and reigns over every aspect of life. He sings, "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me." Pain is still pain, grief is still grief, but now we can see it as serving a purpose in God’s plan.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 emphasizes our non-control over both the event and the particular time that the event takes place. God ordains both the "thing itself" and the "timing" of the thing. His plan includes every detail and embraces every person. Jesus said, "Even the hairs of your head are numbered." Spurgeon has a great quote on that text:

There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of his own hands—the throne of God, and His right to sit upon that throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except upon His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and to make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of Heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures gnash their teeth; and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and reviled, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. They love Him anywhere better than they do when He sits with His scepter in His hand and His crown upon His head. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust. It is God upon His throne of whom we have been singing this morning; and it is God upon His throne of whom we shall speak in this discourse. (From: Divine Sovereignty, by CH Spurgeon, New Park Street Pulpit, Vol 2, page 305).

Let me illustrate the idea of "times" and "timing" with a wedding. The bride has carefully planned every part of her wedding, and the day has finally arrived. Everything is going as scheduled, until her father, walking her down the aisle, falls over with a heart attack and instantly dies. Everyone, including the father and daughter, knew he would die "someday." But why did he have to die on that particular day and at that specific hour? Everyone knew this event would happen, but no one had any way of knowing or controlling when it would happen. There was no way to prepare for that tragedy that day. How often have you said, "Why this? Why me? Why now of all times?" We ask this question both of the things we knew would happen "someday" and also of the things we never did expect to happen. It is easy to think that everything is against us, just because on one day, it rained on our parade. We forget all the many good days when things went right.

No one chooses a "time to weep" any more than one would choose to die at a wedding. But there is an ordained time for all to weep, and an ordained time to for all to die, even for some to die at a wedding. Remember verse 4, "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh." Weeping times are just as essential as laughing times. True, they are painful, but they are also far more spiritually beneficial than laughter.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Eccl. 7:2-4, NKJV)

The Christian knows something that the unbeliever does not. We know that Romans 5:1-5 is true even while we often fail to apply it. Suffering produces perseverance, which in turns leads to character and character produces hope. Comfort and assurance from that verse is not automatic; we must consciously fight our emotions with truth! We must put what we know into actual practice in a given situation. When an unexpected tragedy happens, no matter what kind, we automatically go into panic mode. The Devil will paint the worst possible scenario. We must stop and say, "Wait a minute! I know that this is under God’s control. I know that Romans 8:28 includes what is happening right now." I repeat; we must bring our emotions under the truth of Scripture.

If you have never wept, you have never missed Eden or felt the effects of the fall. You have never felt your sin and shame if you have never shed tears. Tears prove the reality and pain of the effects of sin; weeping makes us long for better days when all of the effects of sin will be gone. This world will be a vale of tears. Most of the time, the good guys do not win. We are engaged in a war that we know we cannot fully win, but we dare not and will not give up and quit.

Next month, we will consider the implications to our personal life that follow when we grasp the truth of Ecclesiastes chapter 3.