THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Passage: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Key verse: 1

NIV

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time(A) for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,(B)
3     a time to kill(C) and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent(D) and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from their toil?(E) 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.(F) 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.(G) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom(H) what God has done from beginning to end.(I) 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink,(J) and find satisfaction(K) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.(L) 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.(M)

15 Whatever is has already been,(N)
    and what will be has been before;(O)
    and God will call the past to account.[b]

Read full chapter
Footnotes
  1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
  2. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

ESV

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and (A)a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to (B)die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to (C)weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to (D)dance;
5 a time to (E)cast away stones, and a time to (F)gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to (G)refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to (H)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to (I)cast away;
7 a time to (J)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to (K)keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to (L)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What (M)gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen (N)the business that (O)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has (P)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot (Q)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is (R)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to (S)do good as long as they live; 13 also (T)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is (U)God's gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; (V)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, (W)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God (X)seeks what has been driven away.[a]

Read full chapter
Footnotes
  1. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway
1. There is a time for everything (1-8) Everything has its proper time to happen. We are born and we die at the proper time. We plant and we harvest at the proper time. We weep or laugh at the proper time. We make war or peace according to the proper time. What is the proper time? It is the time that God sets for everything under the sun. We are not born one minute before the time God sets. And we don't die one minute before what God has determined. 2. God does it so that people will fear Him (9-15) The Teacher juxtaposes the beauty God gives things with the toil and burden of people. We can see all the things that God has made. We know that God has set a time for all things. Even our burdens can be beautiful when we know God has given them to us at the proper time for a purpose. Yet we don't understand God's purpose for what he gives us. He does this in order that we may fear Him.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that everything you made has a proper time. Help us to discern your time in all things.

One Word: There is a time for everything