Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 – a verse by verse devotional commentary

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Discussion Questions: Share a time when you felt like life was happening to you rather than you being in control of it. If you could control just one season of your life—past, present, or future—which one would you change? Have you ever wanted something deeply—but the timing just wouldn’t cooperate?

We’re looking at the most recognizable section of Ecclesiastes, and one of the most familiar passages in the entire Bible. Ecclesiastes isn’t quoted often or at all in the New Testament, you might’ve heard people talk like this in culture, casual conversations, or even crocheted into a pillow.

Not only that, but this passage is discussing the most talked about subject in the world: time. That’s right, according to a few online magazines, researchers have concluded that people talk about time more than everything else. I’m sure you can even think of some phrases we use all the time that use the word time… [Remember that time we…? | Where did the time go? | making the most of time | wasting time | buy some time | borrowed time | from time to time | time after time | time will tell | take your time | it’s about time | in the nick of time | for old time’s sake].

The fact is, living in this world—under the Sun—means living within the constraints of time. And, what we’re going to learn in this section of Scripture is that your life is a series of appointments that you didn’t reserve and you cannot cancel.

v. 1 — “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”

If there’s one thing Christians love to talk about, it’s what “season” their in. Some say their in a season of growth, a season of waiting, or—yes—even a season of singleness. I get tired of this language pretty quickly…I’m not trying to deny people’s life experiences, but this kind of talk has become so cliché. Plus, I don’t think the way we often use the word, season, is the same way Qohelet does here…

Verse 1 isn’t saying: “Ahh, there’s a season and a reason for everything…La-la-la-la-la!”

No…remember, immediately before this, Solomon was saying how he hated his work, he hated his life, he gave his heart over to despair, he was sorrowful, frustrated, and once his work was done for the day and he laid down for the night, his mind was full of anxiety.

And even though chapter 2 ended with what sounded like a glimmer of hope, where Qohelet said “there’s nothing better than to eat, drink, and find enjoyment in his work” (Ecclesiastes 2:24), that statement can be heard in a negative light too…it’s not entirely “it doesn’t get better than this!” It’s probably more along the lines of “yeah, this is pretty much all there is, and it’s downhill from here”

So, with that in mind, I don’t think you should hear Ecclesiastes 3 as heartwarming poetry… It’s more of an acknowledgment that time is unfolding and there’s nothing we can do about it.

In this meaningless and frustrating life, there are some things that are dependable. And here’s one of them: You can count on the fact that you have no control over anything under the Sun. You can’t change the season or the situation your in…

There are things you want in this world, the ESV calls them “matters” but the Hebrew word is חָפֵץ chaphets and it primarily means delight, desire, pleasure. And here’s what the phrase means: even the things you want are on a schedule you don’t control. The fact that there’s “a time for everything” ≠ “you will get everything you want when you want it”…Sometimes you want what you can’t have…and you have what you don’t want. Sometimes happiness comes along, and sometimes it doesn’t—but you don’t get to choose the timing…

Now, just because the world is this way—just because life on earth seems meaningless—

that doesn’t mean everything is bad…But neither is everything positive or happy! If you try to pretend like everything in life is glitz & glam & glorious, it will be dehumanizing. But, as you’ve come to know, Ecclesiastes has a way of bringing us back down to earth and leveling our expectations with honest takes about this life we’re all going through… There are beginnings and there are endings. There is good and there is evil. There are choices we make and choices that weren’t ours but we have to deal with. Good things and bad things exist together in reality and side-by-side on the pages of Ecclesiastes 3.

And as for this list that we’re about to go through…some people interpret it as a series of instructions for us to follow…But in the very first line, it becomes clear that this isn’t about our actions…

v. 2 — “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted”

None of us have control over when we’re born or when we die. Some of us probably wish we were born at a different time, in a different place, and surrounded by different people…But you don’t have control over that…And I bet that all of us know someone who we wish was still living today and hadn’t died, but we don’t have control over that either! We may have tricked ourselves into thinking we control birth—we call it birth control! We may even think we can stop death through life support and medicine…But at the end of the day, only God rules over both life and death. And so, right here, at the very beginning of this list we see that Solomon is not saying: “Hey there’s a proper time where you should do this, and another time where you should do that.”

Instead, this is a list of life occurrences that have been appointed by God. And the list is meant to cover every category of what’s going on in the world. There are 14 things mentioned, which is two times seven—the Bible’s number of completeness.

After life and death, the next items are planting and harvesting. Across the planet, God has ordained different seasons of the year. And some of those seasons provide conditions good for planting, resulting in a time of harvest later on. The entire Hebrew religious calendar in the Old Testament was built around these seasons (Lev. 23:2).

v. 3 — “a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”

There are times in the world where God kills—like a death penalty (Deut. 32:39, Is. 13:9). And there are times when God steps in and prevents people from dying (Is. 38:4-5). God uses both ordinary and miraculous means to accomplish these things.

v. 4 — “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

There are also moments in life when the situation calls for weeping and mourning.

It could be a death, some other kind of sorrow, or a time of repentance. (Jonah 3:5-6, Joel 2:12). And at other times, life is fit for laughter and even dancing–think times of joy, feelings of freedom, or moments of worship (Ps. 149:3, 2 Sam. 6:14).

v. 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;”

Some periods in history are great for building things up…But other times call for tearing things down. Both demolition and construction have their proper times. Solomon knew this firsthand. God appointed his reign as the time when the temple would be built.

"Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever’" (1 Chronicles 22:9-10)…But there was also a time when that temple would be destroyed (1 Ki. 9:6-9, Lk. 19:44)!

There are even times when greetings, hugs, or other displays of affection are appropriate.

But other scenarios may call for distancing yourself…Paul even writes that, within marriage, husbands and wives should not refrain from sleeping together, But a time may come when it’s appropriate to refrain and refocus on prayer (1 Cor. 7:5).

v. 6 — “a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away”

Solomon sought pleasure, and answers, and true meaning in this life. You might be searching for a job or a partner or a place to go…Solomon wanted to keep all the things he had acquired by working hard, But there comes a time to give your stuff up and throw things away.

v. 7 — “a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;”

You might not think there’s ever a time to “tear” or rip something apart, but there is. In the Old Testament, people tore their clothes in a time of repentance or when they got really bad news. Take Job when he lost all his family and possessions in one day and so he tore his clothes, for example (Job 1:13-20).

And there’ll come a time to sew up what’s been torn…Speaking of Job, there are times to speak and times to be quiet. When Job’s life fell apart, his friends showed up and "sat with him" (Job 2:13). But, eventually, they opened their mouths, said some spiritually stupid stuff,

So Job called them “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). Solomon, in Proverbs, wrote that even a foolish person can appear wise if they stay silent (Pr. 17:28).

v. 8 — “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Love, hate, war, and peace each have a time slot on God’s calendar, too. At one point, the Lord told the Israelites that they should care for the Edomites, because they were family (Deut. 23:7). Israel came from Jacob, and Edom came from Esau. But there came a time in history when the Edomites were trying to obstruct God’s plan (Obad. v. 10-11), So the two nations went to war and God was merciful to Israel and rejected the Edomites (Mal. 1:2-3).

v. 9-11 — “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.”

All of the above are guaranteed—love/hate, war/peace, birth/death, planting/plucking,

building up/tearing down—you can’t prevent any of these from happening. So what’s the use in trying to change it? What’s to be gained by working against the seasons? God put all this into place, and whatever God does—Solomon says—lasts from the beginning to the end.

Whereas our works—the things we do—hardly ever endure…

Now, I do have to nitpick with the translation here… Our ears hear “God has made everything beautiful in its time” as something flowery and nice. But the things we’ve talked about—dying, killing, weeping, war—aren’t really beautiful in the way we think…The Hebrew word, יָפֶה yapheh, can also mean suitable, appropriate, fitting, or right.

In other words, God has made a time for everything. All things—good, bad, and beautiful—have their time and place.

And if you try to escape this or work against the design, you will be disappointed. The seasons change, and so your life, your happiness, and your feelings will be impacted. And why does this bother us so much? How come we’re not satisfied? How come, even though life is tiresome and tedious, we don’t want it to end—we don’t want to die? Well, because God—Solomon says—has put eternity into our hearts.

God made us with a sense that things should last. Life should go on. Joy should never end.

And the current times and seasons of this world don’t quite scratch that itch…Augustine—the most famous Christian from the 4th century—said: “Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in God.” So, I’m here to tell you that just one moment in eternity with God is preferable to a long happy life in this world.

And so, I guess we need to talk about how that happens. What did God do to give us eternal life? Well, God had a plan, and He mapped it out all on a timeline. He was going to send a Savior into the world—and there were many appointed times in this Savior’s life…He was born right on schedule. “At the fullness of time, God sent His Son” (Galatians 4:4). Isaiah (62:10) describes this as God clearing out all the stones and making a straight path for the Messiah.

His ministry on earth—teaching, healing, and miracles—began at the right time. “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). “The time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:14–15).

He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness at an “opportune time” (Luke 4:13). There was a time when He would destroy all these evil forces—“Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29).

Many times in His life, the powers that be tried to arrest Jesus but it wasn’t time yet (Jn. 7:30). And, yes, there even was a time for this Savior to die…"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world" (John 13:1).

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8).

He spent three hours on the cross (Mark 15:25, 33–34). But that’s not where the story ends, because on the third day, He came back to life (1 Cor. 15:4, Lk. 24:46).

And then, He spent forty days on the earth before ascending to Heaven (Acts 1:3). And even though the seasons still change, we now know a God who doesn’t. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17).

And now, our God & Savior, Jesus Christ is ruling over all—He’s the Alpha & Omega, beginning and the end. This is the Good News that turns our mourning into dancing (Ps. 30:11). And all who believe are being gathered like stones to build something great. "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Now, interestingly enough, even after Jesus had been raised from the dead, He told His disciples: “It is not for you to know times or seasons” appointed by the Father (Acts 1:7).

And that’s true. Even as saved and redeemed people, we still have questions and frustrations with this life. And so we shouldn’t seek wisdom in a way that hopes to figure every season out…But the wisdom that the Bible or Solomon would recommend to us is

the wisdom that sees God’s hand at work in each season.