What Time Is It?
I don’t like to wear a watch. I’ve tried a few times over the years, but I just can’t get used to the feeling of it on my wrist. I’m also prone to forget my cell phone when I leave the house or just leave it laying in a different room when I’m at home. Unsurprisingly, I often have to ask others what time it is.
Knowing the time is an important and unavoidable part of life in our society. Our days are filled with meetings and doctor appointments and family get-togethers. We would inevitably miss out on a lot if we didn’t know the time. In a more general sense, it’s just as important to know what “time” it is in our lives.
Consider what we read in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV):
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 cast 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 cast 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.
The book of Ecclesiastes is all about how we can utilize godly wisdom to navigate life in this chaotic and confusing world. As we learn from this passage, one important piece of applying wisdom is understanding what time it is in our lives. Recognizing this reality is not always easy, though. We tend to settle into routines and get comfortable with certain habits. Without realizing it, we may be missing certain “appointments” that God has brought to us.
Consider the course of your life and the circumstances you’re currently facing. Is this a time to plant or a time to pluck up? Is it a time to keep or a time to cast away? Is it a time to keep silent or a time to speak? It takes wisdom to recognize what time it is and respond accordingly.
Most of us don’t like change and would rather continue doing whatever we’ve been doing instead of adjusting due to the changes of time. As challenging as it can be, change is not necessarily bad. Change makes things seem chaotic, but often that’s because our perspective is limited. God is a God of order, and His creation displays His design. Just like there’s an order to the physical world, there’s order in our lives. Life is complicated, but it’s not random. There’s a purpose to it. Think of it like the changing of seasons. What happens when the seasons change? We dress differently and behave differently. You don’t want to go out wearing flip flops and shorts when it’s snowing in January.
It’s the same way with the other aspects of life. You need to know when to weep and when to laugh, when to embrace and when to avoid embracing. Life will go much better for you if you have the wisdom and sense to know what the occasion calls for. But, ultimately, we need to not only know what the times and seasons of life are but also why there are such times and seasons.
Verse 14 of Ecclesiastes 3 gives us the answer: “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” God has made life the way it is so that we won’t think we have Him or His ways all figured out. He’s reminding us of His greatness and our own limitations. This should lead to humility on our part. We should trust Him. We should also accept and enjoy life as it is, with all its ups and downs, with all the good and bad.
Consider what season you’re in. Consider what challenges you’re facing. Think about the blessings and opportunities you have. Think about how you’re situated to serve God and others. What should you be doing with the time you’ve got? How can you leverage this season of your life to please Him, to make a difference? That’s the constant challenge for us – to understand where we are in life, and how we can best be faithful in that time and place.
Want to learn more from Ecclesiastes as well as other books of the Bible? Consider using one of our Bible reading plans to regularly spend more time in God’s Word.