Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Everything Has Its Time
3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to 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 weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
I have been pondering these words of 'The Teacher' as the author is described in some sources over the past few days. These are very familiar and popular words from Scripture and I think they are very relevant to the time we are living through at the moment. The phrase; 'there is a time for ...' seems to sum up the pandemic changes to our lives.
In the present climate there are things we cannot do such as embracing or spending time with loved ones out with our households but what this piece reminds us is that there will be a time again when we will be able to do those things which we cannot do today. In the coming future as lockdown phases change we will be able to embrace our friends and loved ones and spend time with them.
This, has also, and will continue to be a time of hardship and pain for many. Weeping is something I suspect we have all done at some point and for those who are bereaved, anxious or fearful it may be something that it all too familiar to them. These are difficult times but we are promised that there will be other times ahead when things will be different. This promise can give us hope. Hope for better times, hope for an end to the pandemic and a hope that the future will be better than we may think it will be at the moment.
As we lives our lives we experience many changes both good and bad but one thing that does not happen is that we 'stand still'. Life is about change and every day is different but of one thing we can be assured is, that the love of God is always around us. Even if we doubt it or are angry with God (and sometimes we need to shout out our anger towards God) that love is always there as a comfort and a an encouragement.
If anything these words from Ecclesiastes tell us is that whatever happens things will change and hopefully for the better.