To cook an egg is easy.
1. A time to give birth and a time to die (3:2).
The Preacher begins by looking at the two extremes of life. These are the bookends of your earthly existence. There is a time when you are born and there is a time when you die and everything else takes place between these two times.
Nearly every other time mentioned in this chapter involves a choice on your behalf. You can decide when to plant or when to uproot or when to kill or when to heal or when to weep or when to laugh or when to mourn or when to dance. But there are two things you don't decide. You don't decide when to be born. And you normally don't decide when you will die.
2. A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted (3:2).
The Preacher is speaking to people who live within an agricultural economy. If he were speaking today, him might say that there is a time when you punch in to go to work and there is a time when you punch out to go home.
3. A time to kill and a time to heal (3:3).
It is noteworthy that the word used here for kill is NOT the same word as is used in the ten commandments for murder.
4. A time to tear down and a time to build up (3:3).
Buildings have their life expectancy in the same way that people do. There are times when it is appropriate to build and there are times when the most constructive thing to do is to tear a building down.
5. A time to weep and a time to laugh (3:4).
There is a proper time for the manifestation of emotions. There are times when we Christians ought to weep and there are times when we ought to laugh the laughter of the redeemed.
C.S. Lewis described pain as God's megaphone. He whispers to us when we laugh, but He shouts to us when we weep.
6. A time to mourn and a time to dance (3:4).
This forms a parallel couplet with the previous line. Those who weep are the same as those who mourn. And those who laugh are the same as those who dance.
7. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones (3:5).
The throwing of stones was a part of the method of execution of criminals. It describes a rejection of that person, not only from society, but even from life. On the other hand, the gathering of stones would be for constructive purposes - to build a house or a wall or even an altar to the Lord.
8. A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing (3:5).
This also seems to be in chiastic parallel with the preceding line. It is again relational in nature. There is a time to mend relational fences and there is a time to avoid making up.
Embracing was a form of greeting in the ancient world. There is a time for hellos and there is a time for good-byes.
9. A time to search and a time to give up as lost (3:6).
You cannot spend your entire life searching for that which has been lost.
There comes a time when you have to face the facts that what is lost is now lost and can no longer be found.
Men often go through a mid-life crisis in which they attempt to regain their youth by doing youthful things - a young way of dressing, a new sports car, a new wife. But it doesn't work. There is a time to give up such things as lost.
If you want to feel young, hang around young people. If you want to feel old, try to keep up with them.
10. A time to keep and a time to throw away (3:6).
Everything that you now own will one day be thrown away. That does not mean you should throw it all away now. But perhaps it DOES mean that you should take care to what you cling too tightly.
This also applies to relationships. Parents, there comes a time when you have to begin to let go of your children. Begin to allow them to make their own decision and even to make some of their own mistakes.
11. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together (3:7).
This seems to be in chiastic parallel with the previous phrase. The idea of "tearing apart" is often used of rending garments in a time of grief or of crisis. There comes a time when the crisis is over and the grief is passed and that which has been torn is sewed back together.
12. A time to be silent and a time to speak (3:7).
There have been times when I have regretted speaking. And there have been times when I have regretted my silence. Wisdom comes in knowing when to speak and when not to speak.
13. A time to love and a time to hate (3:8).
We read that God both loves and that He hates. The hatred of God is directed against sin. And there are times when we ought to hate, too. We ought to hate injustice and hypocrisy whenever we see it.
14. A time for war and a time for peace (3:8).
This and other passages in the Scriptures indicate that there are times when warfare is just and right - specifically when it involves defense from outside aggression.
So Many Things...yet So Little Time?
Give up Your Time. Follow His Time.
"Not ours to know the reason why,
Unanswered is our prayer,
But ours to wait for God's own time,
To lift the cross we bear."
