To Everything There Is A Season
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (BSB)
To everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose 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 break 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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to search, and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep, and a time to discard;
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.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live, and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him. What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.
The Hopeful Truth of the Verse
"To Everything There Is a Season"
By Pamela Palmer, September 28, 2023
Part of God’s great design to this earth is seasons. We experience wet and dry seasons, the typical four seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall, and there are planting seasons and harvesting seasons. We see creation moving through seasons each year, and we ourselves live through seasons, as well. In these seasons we learn to depend on and come to expect things. So, too, we find in the Bible that our lives go through seasons.
Seasons of sadness, loss, joy, newness, and growth. All of these life seasons are intentional and God’s influence in them should be acknowledged and counted on. We find this often quoted verse in the book of Ecclesiastes, which is believed to have been written by Solomon, the son of King David.
When Scripture declares that for everything there is a season, this means that the various circumstances we go through in life are not by accident, but orchestrated or allowed by God with great purpose and intentionality.
What Does The Bible Mean 'To Everything There Is a Season'?
Ecclesiastes 3:1 affirms two important reminders:
The things we go through in life are not in vain.
Our situations will not last forever.
If you are in a certain season of life, you can be confident the season will come to an end at some point. This verse serves as a reminder that our circumstances will change and that is something we can come to expect in life. Whatever God takes us through has purpose, perhaps to deepen our faith or to help us achieve a breakthrough in an area of life.
We will get over our sorrows. We will get out of the valley. We will go through hardships. And whatever season of life we find ourselves in, it will have a beginning and it will have an end. We will enter new seasons, too. Ones that bring relief, hope, or a deeper sense of faith.
It's helpful to also read other translations of this verse to get a better idea of its meaning:
"Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses". - Good News Translation
"Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven" - God's Word
"There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth" - The Message
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens" - NIV
What Is the Context of This Verse and 'For Everything There Is a Season'?
As you read Ecclesiastes, you may get the impression that Solomon had somewhat of a grave outlook on life. The book begins with Solomon’s declaration that everything is meaningless. He had seen the ups and downs of life, yet could not quite make sense of it. Why was there so much suffering? Where was God in the midst of life? What is the meaning of the mundane days we live? In this book, Solomon reflected on his understanding of God and how that fits with what he knew and the life he was experiencing. Perhaps you have found yourself wondering or reflecting like Solomon did.
In the third chapter, we find perhaps some clarity around the mysteries of life. When nothing seems to make sense, if we find God’s presence in life, that’s when real meaning and satisfaction will emerge. Life without God is hopeless, but a life lived for God and in acknowledgement of his divine presence is one marked by fruitfulness and significance.
In this chapter, Solomon affirmed the seasons of joys and the seasons of hardships, the high and the low seasons, the valleys of despair and the peaks of honor. This is the ebb and flow of life that we can anticipate, and when we keep God at the center, purpose will emerge and refining of our hearts will take place.
Why Is There a Time for Bad Things?
The reality is that life gets hard. As we know, bad things happen even to those who follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Sinful nature has left nothing untouched, and this is why we await the second coming of Jesus. But until then, we know that we will go through tough seasons just as much as we go through joyful seasons.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Even Jesus reminded us that we will always have troubles, but we can still have peace in him. The hope found in this passage is that these seasons of suffering, hate, and death will end. God will bring us through to better days marked by comfort, love, and new life. Through it all, we can rest in the peace Jesus has given us. Regardless of what we face, God remains in control and is the author of our days.
How Does God Make Everything Beautiful in Its Time?
God is our redeemer. To redeem something means to offset its negative traits. In a biblical sense, redemption means that Jesus’ work on the cross has covered our sin. His sacrificial love has offset and delivered us from sinfulness, death, and guilt. God’s redemptive work makes us beautiful and it makes all things beautiful.
This concept of redemption that we find in Scripture teaches us that God will redeem us from despair and work all things together for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28).
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
We find this promise written that God will make everything beautiful in its due season. God will judge right from wrong and bring about justice (see Ecclesiastes 3:16-17). God will make things right. We may not always know how he will make things beautiful or when he will do that, but we can count on it, pray for it to happen, and put our trust fully in God to redeem even the worst of our circumstances.
What Do We Learn from Ecclesiasties 3:1 about Change and Timing?
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, goes to great lengths to preach that we must put our trust in God’s sovereignty which means he is in control of all things. God is with us in the hardest battles. He guides our steps from one season to the next. He sees what is coming ahead for us and will provide what we need to get through. No matter what seasons lay behind us or ahead of us, God is always present and always leading us through each - for the purpose of His glory.
The greatest hope we have in seasons of trouble or change is that God will never leave us nor forsake us. We may experience God’s timing as difficult, or late, or hard to understand, or different than what we’d expect or hope for. But truly, God’s timing is perfect and always comes to pass in a way that will bring us goodness rather than hopelessness.
How Can We Apply "For Everything There is a Season" to Everyday Lives?
When we wake up, we can trust that whatever season we are in is not by accident, nor will God allow it to unfold without bringing out a grander purpose and drawing us closer to him. Every season is purposeful in leading us into a deeper relationship with God and creating unshakeable faith.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
We can hope that the Lord will give us seasons of joy, and know that he wants us to enjoy life (see Ecclesiastes 3:12-13). We should savor the goodness of life and the ways God has gifted us with his favor. Apply this verse to your life by trusting that God knows the seasons in your life in which you will relish and endure, and he will be with you every step of the way. Therefore, we should lean into God regardless of the situation because he loves us and will journey with us each moment, each day, and each season. Like Solomon, we can pause to reflect on our lives and how we see God’s presence and direction.
God is the author of our time and the seasons we go through. Though life does not always make sense, or may even feel insignificant at times, rather than getting lost in despair, we can find comfort and hope in God. God brings us to new seasons, changes our circumstances, and adds fullness to our existence. God alone will make things beautiful in due season and cause our lives to be abundant in meaning.
“A time for war and a time for peace” (Eccleciastes 3:8)
By Roger Shouse, July 31, 2022
Our verse today comes from Solomon’s “seasons of life.” There is a time for everything, he says. And, what follows is a series of couplets and opposites. Many of them we really enjoy, such as hugs, birth and love. And, many of the opposites, we dread, such as hate, war and death. Our focus today is on the ending of today’s verse, “a time for war and a time for peace.”
There needs to be some thought put into “a time for war.” Solomon is writing generically. He doesn’t identify if the war is between nations, tribes, families, ethnic groups or simply two co-workers who can’t get along. There is a time for war and there is a time for peace. When is there a time for war? When is it appropriate to launch into battle? And, Solomon doesn’t identify what kind of war he has in mind. Physical war with soldiers? A war with words? A husband and wife who are having an argument? A mad teen who slams the door to her bedroom? Political skirmishes between candidates? Religious wars that we often call persecution?
There is a time for war. Here’s some things to help us:
First not every battle is my battle, nor should I fight in every battle. People tend to be involved in far too many things that are not any of their business. Two co-workers who cannot get along, explode into the entire office taking sides and people who once liked each other and got along well, now don’t. This is true in families and true within the church. Preachers can stick our noses in the business of other congregations and get involved in things are not their battles. Staying out is hard. But one of the best things is to let the people involved work their differences out.
Second, when you are involved, do all that you can to make peace and avoid a war with others. That’s the spirit of the New Testament. “Blessed are the peacemakers”, Jesus said. The Romans were told, “if possible, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Among the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians is peace. Listed in Peter’s characteristics of virtues are love and self control. Some like to irritate. Some like to stir things up. Some just know how to push the right buttons and they do that all day long. It’s like riding with your little brother in the back seat of the car. A touch becomes a poke, which becomes a pinch, which turns into a slap, which turns into a hit. About that time, dad has stopped the car and both get a spanking. Make peace when you can.
Third, lines must be drawn where God has established them. There are wars that need to be fought. There are battles that must take place. Standing for the integrity of Scriptures and God’s pattern for things is one such battle. There are those who want to twist Scriptures, introduce new concepts, change the way of God and reinvent what the Lord has introduced. Doctrinally, morally, culturally—there are battles taking place. To sit on the sidelines because one doesn’t like confrontations, or the mess of wars, is to allow the enemy to take over.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Near where I live, Corydon, Indiana, there was a battle that took place during the Civil War. It was the only battle fought in Indiana. Morgan’s Raiders came up from Kentucky into Indiana. As they approached little towns, they demanded horses, supplies and money. If they didn’t get that, they would fight and destroy the town. Every town quietly and cowardly surrendered, except my Corydon. They put up a fight. Cannons were fired. Muskets were shot. Several on both sides died. In the end, the defenders of Corydon surrendered. But the delay it caused, allowed Union troops to pursue and later capture most of Morgan’s Raiders.
Just like Morgan’s Raiders, Satan is trying to move in and take over. To surrender without a fight is to lack faith, courage and conviction. A person needs to fight for their marriage and not let the devil destroy it. Shepherds need to fight for the truth that is to be fed to the flock. Many a pied piper has fooled people with slick messages, fancy books and stealth like motives. There is a time for war.
We sing, “Solders of Christ arise.” Will we? Will we be ready? Will we engage the enemy for what is right? I fear sometimes that we fight, but we are fighting in the wrong wars. And what we ought to be fighting, we are not. Standing on the principles or sitting on the sidelines?
There is a time for war and a time for peace. Knowing what time it is, makes all the difference.
Lined up 10 feet apart, the crosses would have stretched nearly 10 miles on Carmel Valley Road. Or they could have filled a farmer’s field. Instead, the white crosses — each representing an American man or woman who died fighting in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — stretched from the rock wall of the 12th Avenue cove to the surf line on Carmel Beach on Memorial Day. The temporary memorial was organized by Cachagua resident Michael Jones and Defense Language Institute Cmdr. DJ Skelton, and orchestrated with the help of 10 Marines from the DLI, Carmel Valley and Cachagua residents, and other supporters.
The last time Jones, Skelton and a handful of helpers set up crosses on the beach, in 2006, they numbered 2,485. This time, they were just a couple shy of 4,700. “There’s a bill, and these kids are paying the bill,” Jones said of the fallen soldiers. “You need to see all these lost lives in one place. If you’re for the war, here’s the bill. And if you’re against it, here’s the bill.”
The memorial took several days’ planning and a lot of work. Hayward Lumber in Pacific Grove provided stakes at a discount, and Rapid Printers of Monterey produced each cross piece — a white card with black lettering listing the soldier’s name, rank, hometown, age and date of death — at cost.
Skelton, Commander of Echo Company, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion at the Defense Language Institute and a fierce advocate for wounded soldiers — having sustained major injuries when he was hit in the chest with a rocket propelled grenade and grievously injured while leading a platoon in the battle of Fallujah in November 2004 — gathered the volunteer Marines from DLI. The group undertook the laborious effort of compiling the list of their comrades killed in action in the Middle East and spent two long days hand-painting the white stakes that would bear their names for a few hours on the beach on Memorial Day.
“They decided it was disrespectful to use sprayers,” Jones explained.
Before dawn Monday, the group quietly walked up and down the stairs to the 12th Avenue cove, carrying armloads of stakes. At the bottom, a table was set up so a name card could be stapled to each. They were divided alphabetically, and then carried out and pounded into the sand in orderly rows.
At one point about a third of the way through the assembly, the group determined the lines weren’t straight enough, so they went back and shifted the crosses, “out of respect,” Jones said.
The installation evoked strong emotions in all involved. Eventually, Jones said, people began standing behind the crosses as they pounded them into the sand, unable to bear reading the name of another dead soldier.
“One after the other, it’s just overwhelming,” he said. “And with 4,700, there’s no escaping all the names when you’re stapling all the names to the stakes. They were all young, from all the little towns across America.”
Jones said it took awhile for passers-by to notice the growing memorial.
“At the beginning, we were worried people weren’t going to come,” he said. But by the time 3,500 were erected and the lines reached the wet sand, people couldn’t help but be drawn in to walk among them, reading the names, hometowns and ages of the people who have died fighting overseas. Some left small tokens of appreciation.
One of the Marines suggested painting the crosses of the eight Medal of Honor winners blue, according to Jones, who rushed out to find some paint. The group also put flowers on the crosses of 23-year-old Lt. Todd Bryant of Riverside, who was killed by an improvised explosive device in Fallujah in October 2003 and featured in Bill Murphy Jr.’s book, “In a Time of War,” about the West Point class of 2002, and 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Chad Maynard, who died in Ramadi, Iraq, when his vehicle hit an IED. Some of Maynard’s family found the last memorial in 2006 while on their honeymoon, Jones recalled.
In the afternoon, when it was time to take the crosses off the beach, about a dozen members of Carmel’s American Legion Post 512 appeared and helped somberly carry them up the stairs. Those of the soldiers bestowed with the Medal of Honor, as well as Maynard’s and Bryant’s, were left standing.
As people worked to dismantle the memorial, a Marine Lance Corporal who is also an impressive singer and guitarist stood on the stairs and performed “Amazing Grace,” Jones said.
“Traffic stopped on Scenic,” he said. “Everyone was sobbing.”
Now, the name cards are neatly packed in their boxes, and Jones is trying to devise an appropriate way to dispose of them.
“Each becomes a person,” he explained, so it seems so wrong to casually toss them away.
The stakes are in a storage shed, waiting for use in the next memorial. Jones hopes it will again be on Carmel Beach, “the most beautiful beach in the world,” and the ideal location to honor the fallen.
“You feel so guilty about not having that kind of selflessness and dedication that all these kids had,” he said. “For one day, you can feel a little better about yourself. You at least said, ‘Thank you,’ once.”