PM Home Bible Study Group; September 9, 2009
Ecclesiastes 3:1-17

Theme: Life is lived best, in the under-the-sun experience of “time”, with a confident trust in God’s sovereignty over His eternal purposes.

When William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) was only twelve, he contracted tuberculosis. Though he was able to pass examinations at Oxford and became successful in life as an editor and critic, he nevertheless spent many of his years in and out of hospitals—surviving with only one leg, and always in danger of losing the other from the disease. Somewhere around his twenty-fifth year—from a hospital bed—he wrote what may be the most defiant poem in all of English language:

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

Henley admits of great uncertainties in this very passionate poem—”Out of the night that covers me”, “whatever gods may be”; “the bludgeonings of chance”; “the horror of the shade”.  And yet, in great confidence in his own “unconquerable soul”, he stands “unafraid”; and declares himself “the master” of his own “fate”, and “the captain” of his own “soul”.

But was he? He couldn’t look ahead—beyond his own place in “time”—to see the end of the “fate” over which he declared himself “master”. And his testimony that his “head is bloody” strongly indicates that he wasn’t such a good captain either!

Solomon’s testimony in the Book of Ecclesiastes is much more humble and realistic; and far more applicable to our everyday experience of life. His examination of life “under the sun” led him to declare that he was not the captain of his own fate—nor was Henley, nor was anyone else. But neither is Solomon fatalistic. He teaches us that life is lived best, within the confines of “time”, with a confident trust in God’s sovereignty over His own eternal purposes.

I. A BASIC PROPOSITION ABOUT ALL THINGS (vv. 1-8).

A. He begins by saying, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (v. 1). Through his thorough investigation of life, he has found there is a “right time” for all that happens. We may not like the “right time” that we have to deal with. It may not be convenient to our own plans and purposes. And yet, it is an inviolable principle of life under which God Himself has made us to live. To fight against this principle is to ‘bloody’ one’s head against the wall.

B. To illustrate this, Solomon sets forth fourteen separate “couplets”—evidences from everyday life that we can all relate to:

1. There is “a time to be born, and a time to die”. No one can decide in advance when they will be born, or where, or to whom. And when it’s time to die, no one can cancel the appointment and reschedule it for later. We can’t even control this most basic fact about ourselves.

2. There is “a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted”. Every farmer will tell you that this is so. You can’t plant before the season for planting; and you can’t harvest before the time of harvesting. No matter how much he may buck against it, man must still be subject to the seasons of growth and harvest.

3. There is “a time to kill, and a time to heal”. A man who raises livestock will confirm this. A wise cattle-rancher knows when he can save members of his herds and when he cannot. He knows when an animal’s condition or disposition may become a danger to the rest of his investment. He can’t fight this fact of life—he has to work with it.

4. There is “a time to break down, and a time to build up”. Contractors and builders must work with this reality all the time. Those who own investment property may appreciate the sentimental value of an old building that has long since lost its practicality; but they still have to tear down one thing and build something else in its place.

5. There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh”. There are circumstances in life where a joke lifts the mood; and there are other times when a joke is an offense to the sadness of the occasion. Likewise, there are times when saying a sad word at a time of joy can be as insult.

6. There is “a time to mourn, and a time to dance”. Just as our words can be inappropriate to the situation, so can the expressions of our mood. We can dance when we should mourn, or mourn when we should dance.

7. There is “a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones”. When a wall is a wrong thing, the division needs to be taken down and the stones cast away. But there are times when the defenses need to be raised up and the stones regathered.

8. There is “a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing”. Any young man who’s trying to win the heart of his girl—if he’s smart—learns this quickly!

9. There is “a time to gain, and a time to lose”. Investment brokers don’t make their living on fighting such trends; but rather in learning to work with them to the greatest possible advantage.

10. There is “a time to keep, and a time to throw away”. Just visit your neighborhood garage-sale sometime; and you’ll see! Or for that matter, just visit your own garage!

11. There is “a time to tear, and a time to sew”. Good tailors and good seamstresses know what can be kept and repaired, and what is beyond repair and is only fit for ripping up into rags. Everyone has a favorite shirt or coat that—no matter how much you love—is past its prime.

12. There is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”. How many of us have gotten into trouble by not knowing the difference!

13. There is “a time to love, and a time to hate”. This is hard for many people to grasp; yet, it is nevertheless true. There are certain things we should “hate”; and there are certain things we should “love”. It is an exercise in futility to fight this.

14. There is “a time of war, and a time of peace”. Leaders and politicians soon have to face this reality. To insist on peace at a time of war is delusional; and to insist on war at a time of peace is destructive.

C. Again, Solomon is not being “fatalistic”. He is simply observing a reality of life and putting it in the form of a proposition. We cannot change the “season” of things. We cannot alter their proper “time”. This is the limitation that God has placed on man; and man, who lives “under the sun” must work with it.

II. THE PROBLEM THAT PRESENTS ITSELF TO THE OBSERVER (vv. 9-11).

A. Given this inviolable fact of life, Solomon next asks, “What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?” (v. 9). If all things have their set time; and if man cannot alter that time or overrule it—if, in fact, man is not the master of his own fate—then what’s the value of all his labors in life? What does he accomplish if, in fact, he alters nothing or changes things from their appointed time?

B. Solomon goes on to expand on this thought further:

1. He notes that he has “seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied” (v. 10). Given what Solomon has written in chapter 2, we’d have to say that no one was more qualified to make this statement than he. He truly has “seen it all”! And in all of it, he has also seen that God “has made everything beautiful (that is, “good”) in its time” (v. 11a). What we make into such a horrific event today will become yesterday’s faint memory. What seems all wrong at one point sets a series of events into motion that eventuate into something good later. If you don’t like things as they are now, just wait; and it will be better “in its time”.

2. What’s more, God has put “eternity” (or as some translations have it “the world”) into the hearts of men and women who have to deal with all these things (v. 11b); so that they have an inward draw toward a “purpose” for it all. There is a deep-seated need in us to find a unifying, ultimate “whole” that makes sense of all the “parts”.

3. And yet—even with this sense of a need for an ultimate purpose to it all—man “can’t find out the work that God does from beginning to end” (v. 11c). Man lives no further than the time that he’s in. He can’t travel into the future to see how it ends up, or travel into the past to change things into what could have been. He strives to make sense of the things that must happen “in their time”; and yet, it’s as if he’s working on a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are turned upside-down.

III. THE RESPONSE OF THE MAN WHO LIVES IN A POINT OF TIME (vv. 12-17).

A. Solomon, then, concludes that all that man can deal with is his place in the “here and now”; and that he must trust in the sovereignty of God in that place. Note carefully how he says, “I know” (v. 12, 14); “I saw” (v. 16), and “I said” (v. 17). These are conclusions and resolves that he has come to by observing the condition of time-bound man under the sun.

1. First, he knows that “nothing is better” for people in this circumstance of life than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives” (v. 12). God has appointed them to the time that they’re in. They cannot live in another time; nor can they take the place that God has given to someone else. And so, the best thing they can do is live in that time and place God has appointed for them. But the one thing that they can choose is to “do good” in that time and place. What’s more, rather than fight it, Solomon recommends that “every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God” (v. 13). To be content in the place that God has appointed to us is not only a great gift; it also makes sense! Has He appointed you to work? Then do the work joyfully. Has He given you food? Eat and drink thankfully.

2. Second, he knows that “whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it” (v. 14a). God’s purposes have their appointed time; and that time is in His hand. We may try; but we cannot alter His wise purposes. We are limited by His sovereign decree of our place. And He does this, ultimately, so that we may see that He is God—and that we are not! “God does it”, Solomon goes on to say, “that men should fear before Him” (v. 14b). We are restricted to our place in time; and we can only look on in wonder at the vastness of God’s purposes. We can only declare: “That which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires an account of what is past” (v. 15). This is much the same as what Solomon says in 1:9; only then, it was a matter of despair under the sun. Here, it is a testimony of God’s authority and our responsibility.

3. Finally, he steps back and sees that, under the sun, there is injustice. Man may live bound to time; and it may be that there is appointed times and seasons for things. But we also have a sense that things are not “right”. (This helps us appreciate that Solomon has not degenerated into mere ‘fatalism”. But it also helps us to understand how frustrating the situation of man in “time” can be.) He says, “In the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, iniquity was there” (v. 16). Wrong was in a place where it ought not be; and no matter how hard man may try, he can’t simply ignore the fact. The “eternity” in his heart wont let him. But Solomon points to the answer: “I said in my heart, ‘God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work” (v. 17). There is “a time” for everything under the sun; but none of it makes sense unless seen in the light of the fact that there is also “a time” for the judgment of God concerning all things.

* * * * * * * * * *

This is the basic theme and ultimate value of this wonderful book. It points us away from the meaninglessness that we would see, as time-bound human beings, if we only looked “under the sun”. It draws our attention instead to the God who stands above it all—as the sovereign God who has decreed it all for His glory; and causes us to conclude with Solomon, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or bad” (12:13b-14).

We are not the master’s of our own fate. God alone is. And when we let Him have His rightful place as the true Captain of our souls, we can be confident that we will end in a place He has designed for our good and for His glory.