For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Some things are hard to rule over. The wind doesn’t ask our permission or heed our requests to stop. Storms don’t call us before they come. The seasons don’t knock before they arrive. These things are beyond our control.

We find the preacher of Ecclesiastes in a similar situation. He seeks to throw his lasso over time and reign it in so he can secure gain. But can he do this? Can he understand the times so that he can use them completely for his gain and find ultimate meaning (his pursuit in the book)? His words in Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 indicate that God’s appointed times are an inescapable mystery; however, they are mysteries for our benefit.

The activities and events of this world are set and beyond our control. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” he begins (3:1). Thus, humans are living in a world in which every event, every matter, and every affair has its appointed times. We cannot change these; we can only live in them. This world has been set by God and is not in our control.

The beginning and end of the life cycle is beyond our control. There is “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.” (3:2) We do not control when life cycles start and when they end.

The time to stop things and the time to fix things is beyond our control. There is “a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” (3:3) The times when justice must be carried out over criminals and oppressors along with the times when sickness shows up and needs healing does not happen on our schedules.

Significant events that affect our emotions are beyond our control. There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (3:4) Not every circumstance is appropriate to laugh at; and not everyone appropriate to cry at. Events beyond our control govern pleasant and unpleasant emotions, both privately and publicly.

Times of acting and not acting upon situations are beyond our control. There is “a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” (3:5) A visit from a hurricane or a home infiltrated by termites will dictate our course of action.

Our possessions are beyond our control. There is “a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.” (3:6) There are many possible actions when it comes to handling our possessions. Sometimes they become lost; sometimes they become permanently lost; sometimes they need to be held onto and then there are times to be done with them.

Speech becomes dictated by times beyond our control. There is “a time to tear, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” (3:7) Sometimes you don’t want to speak but may need to. And sometimes you may want to speak but need to hold your tongue. Job’s friends come to mind. The tearing and sowing is difficult to pin down. Some have considered it as a picture of grief along with the rest of verse 7. Others consider it to be a picture of creative and destructive times.¹

Natural and national relationships are beyond our control. There is “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (3:8) How others act is not a providence we enjoy nor can control.

We exist in a world that is beyond our control. Our efforts become governed by the appointed seasons and times of God’s providence. What shall we do with an inability to cast a secure lasso over time? Fast forward to verse 14, “God has done it, so that people fear before him.”

God’s appointed times are an escapable mystery. However, this too is for our benefit, for it leads us to fear and enjoy him. God is the one, the only one, with the sovereign lasso over time and its activities. Let us see God’s sovereignty in time and over time and bow our knees to His good reign. We cannot rule nor change the appointed seasons, but we can love our Savior and trust Him deeply from season to season, whatever each may bring.

Sources

Eaton, Michael A. Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 18, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983.

Longman III, Tremper. The Book of Ecclesiastes, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998.

Murphy, Roland. Ecclesiastes, vol. 23A, Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 1992.