A Time for Everything

Last evening we had a special activity.  We enjoyed a pizza/movie night, as well as a study from the word of God.  Our topic was A Time for Everything.  We looked at Ecclesiastes 3 and how God has set a time and a season for everything.

The notes from this study are below.

Today we are going to look at Ecclesiastes 3, the entire chapter, which has 15 verses.  Let us turn to these verses:

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time 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,
³ a time to kill 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 and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

What does it mean in verse 5, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them?

It means there is a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to end something and a time to start something, a time to bring something to conclusion and a time to start something new.

I like verse 7, the second part, a time to be silent and a time to speak.  It means that sometimes we need to speak up about something we feel it is important for us; however, there is a time to be silent and to think and analyse and allow for other people to also have a chance to speak up.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil?  ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  ¹¹ 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.  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, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  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.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
   and what will be has been before;
   and God will call the past to account.

God has appointed a time and a season for everything.  In verse 12, we see that Solomon, the wisest man on the earth, by the wisdom and the inspiration of God, is telling us that “nothing is better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.”

Therefore, let us take some time now away from the worries and the problems of life.  Let us enjoy the blessings of God and this time of fellowship with one another.