Series: Renewal!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV
As a child of the sixties, I think I have a great repertoire of songs etched in my memory that serve me well for any occasion!
The song spinning through my head when I read today’s scripture goes like this:
“To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rain, a time of sow
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late.
(https://www.google.com/search?q=words to song Turn turn turn&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m)
It’s a great song written by/for the Byrds by Pete Seeger. The melody was/is easy to remember. From the moment I first heard the song I latched onto it.
At the time it was a plea for world peace. We would do well to remember it today.
In the case of today’s renewal scripture the words tell a great story:
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ,King Solomon wrote,
“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.”
Reading King Solomon’s words from the viewpoint of renewal reminds us God has a plan for everything under heaven.
There is a plan for every season, year in and year out. What’s truly amazing is that the plan was put in place from the beginning.
It’s also pretty amazing that even though Solomon didn’t create the plan, he was able to see the plan that God created.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a genius work of art (for writing is an art form).
Solomon stepped back and looked at man from a broader perspective. He saw birth and death, planting and harvest, destruction and rebuilding, happiness and sorrow, and gain and loss
Solomon ended with a telling observation that today we would call a genius leadership tactic.
That’s because a great leader not only knows when to speak and what to say, they know what not to say.
Sometimes silence says much more than a thousand words.
Solomon’s words about living and hating make us stop and think…
Yes, we can all agree there is a time to love but when is there a time to hate? We struggle to understand his meaning, and yet in this case is it simply because we equate loving a person with hating a person?
What if Solomon’s meaning also pointed to loving an activity and not loving an activity?
Or what if it included loving a cause and not loving a cause?
Years ago when the song Turn, Turn, Turn came out I understood that line to simply loving something and hating the opposite, as in loving peace and hating war. The placement of those two final comparisons were no accident.
The songwriters to Turn Turn Turn certainly intended the listeners to desire to turn from war and turn TO peace.
The point of the song was peace for those were the days of “give peace a chance”.
So…if the point is peace we strive to fight for peace. We ultimately desire that peace will emerge triumphant on earth.
Spiritual Practice: Pray for peace
…not just for the sake of peace, but so that those in our world who are suffering and being mistreated will win the battle for peace.
In God, Deborah