TIME AND ETERNITY

Passage: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Key verse: 11

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]

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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]

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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

After a generally pessimistic reflection on human life “under the sun”, especially without God, the Teacher poetically describes the passing of time. This section may be the most quoted part of Ecclesiastes. It should not be understood as a meditation on the randomness of life. Rather, it is an encouragement for us to have a proper view of God’s sovereignty over all things. God has sovereignly ordered a time for everything. Birth and death, planting and uprooting, weeping and laughing - each activity has its time in our lives as set by God. We toil and groan under the burden God has laid on us (Ro 8:22) but God has also allowed us to experience beauty (11a). We often avoid pain and struggle and seek ease and comfort. But God, in his wisdom and grace, allows us to have a full range of human experience so that we may always seek him and know him better.

Though we live out our earthly lives in finite time and space, God has also set eternity in our hearts. We long for eternity even though we cannot really understand what our eternal God has done. God alone gives us satisfaction in our work. His will endures forever. God will judge how we live (15). May we have a healthy fear of our sovereign God.

Prayer: Father, thank you for being eternal and sovereign over everything that happens. Please grow our faith in every season of life and to live with an eternal perspective.

One Word: God is sovereign in every season