The Tyranny of Time

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. 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. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.”  ~Ecclesiastes 3:1–15

We are strange creatures. Trapped in the moment, we live with an eternal yearning written on our hearts. “Trapped” might be too strong a word, but for better or worse, we cannot escape the seasonal nature of life. That’s Solomon’s point. At times, no doubt, we find ourselves longing for stability. “Let the good times roll – forever!” is our heart cry.  When things are on the up, nobody wants a downturn.

And yet, Solomon says, there is a certain beauty to the ebb-and-flow rhythm of life under the sun. While we might not always understand what God is doing, the knowledge that He is nonetheless the One at work lends a sure foundation to the passing nature of things down below. Isn’t this what Job meant when he observed:

Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.  ~Job 23:8–12

In all, and through the changing seasons of life, therefore, our part is to trust, to submit confidently to the refining wisdom of God, and to commit ourselves to do what God has said simply because God is the One who has said it.

As we prepare to go our separate ways, my beloved congregation, I want to remind you of this principle; it is a promise. None of us knows what the future holds. But we know Christ holds the future in His nail-pierced hands – hands that are too wise to err and too loving to cause one of His little ones a needless tear.

Though at times it might feel like He is slaying us, let us hold fast to Him with dogged, obedient faith. The golden years are coming when all the dross shall be gone. As I write, I am reminded of a sculptor who had the remarkable gift of taking driftwood and of carving herds of wild horses galloping. When asked how he did this, he replied: “I take the wood, and everything that is not horse I cut away.” This is what God is doing in every season of life: When the tide of joy comes in and when it ebbs out, He is taking your soul and mine, and everything that is not Jesus He cuts away. When we are full, and especially in those times we feel empty, we can trust a God like that. Until we meet again:  

May God bless you and keep you.
May God lift up the light of His shining countenance upon you and be gracious to you.
Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away…