Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 (NRSV)
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Chapter 3For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: Verse 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; Verse 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; Verse 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Verse 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; Verse 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; Verse 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; Verse 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Verse 9What gain have the workers from their toil? Verse 10I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.
Verse 11He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Verse 12I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; Verse 13moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
Devotion
“For everything there is a season ... a time for every matter under heaven.”
Today, we find ourselves at the end of one calendar year and at the commencement of another. We take account of what has happened in the world at large and in what has occurred in our own lives. We give thought to what might come and make resolutions regarding our behavior. The Teacher, the author of these verses and chapters, wrote from personal experience about the futility of human striving in pursuit of finding fulfillment in knowledge, riches, or even trying to understand the ways of God.
“Here’s how to live, the Teacher says. “Eat what you want, savor the wine you drink, take enjoyment in life,” and as a conclusion, this less-than-subtle command: “Fear God, keep God’s commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone.” In all seasons, in all times, people who find anything of value in this world are those who stay rooted in the Lord God.
Prayer
God of all time, Maker and Redeemer of all that the ages hold, you give and promise life; you give us meaning and hope. And, you have given us Christ, who is with us in all seasons and all times. In this, we rejoice. Amen.