Arthur Gordon tells this true story of one of the leaders in a Christian
school. He came from a very poor background, and was rather homely, yet
he was married to one of the most beautiful and popular girls in Boston. He
was asked how he managed to get her to say yes to him. He explained his
strategy. He knew he had many manly rivals, and so he could not compete on
that level. He had to appeal to her tenderness, and so on one snowy night,
when he had a date with her, he slipped on the steps and fell down to the
bottom of the porch. She came rushing to his side, and he stopped groaning
just long enough to ask her to marry him. He figured she would not have the
heart to add to his misery by turning him down. He was right, and she said yes.
Timing plays a major role in most every marriage, for how people meet is
often a matter of timing. This is true for friendship, jobs, and even in the
matter of becoming a hero. President John F. Kennedy was asked how he
became a hero in the II World War, and he said, "It was involuntary. They
sank my boat." He was not looking for a way to be a hero. It was forced upon
him, and the point is, all of us may do heroic things if our life depended on it.
But if the time never occurs for us to be heroic we just never get the
opportunity. Time determines so much of life, and in our text we see many
examples.
In verse 2 Solomon begins with the two ends of life-the start and the
conclusion. The two major events for all people are birth and death.
Solomon says, "There is a time to be born." He is not saying that birth
always comes at the right time, as if all births are appointed. We know this is
not the case. The birth of Jesus was in the fullness of time, and was precisely
appointed, but there are many births that are not so appointed, just as there
are many deaths which are not appointed by God.
There are some who read this passage as teaching absolute determinism:
That every event of life is all planned, and the exact time and duration of it as
well, so that all of life is determined, and whatever will be will be. If this is
what Solomon is saying here, it is in total contrast to his emphasis on the
meaninglessness and vanity of life. If all is planned by God, and every detail
is just what He wants, then all has meaning, and all you have to do is just
accept everything as it is as the best of all possible worlds.
But Solomon is saying in this book, life if loaded with the meaningless
because so much of it is not a part of God's plan, and has no order, rhyme, or
reason. In a world where people are free to reject God and His will, you are
going to see a lot of births and deaths that are not a part of His plan. In
chapter 6 verse 3, Solomon speaks of an untimely birth. This is a reference to
being born so premature that one is born dead. There are millions of births
that are not rightly timed, and this leads to defects or death. Today doctors
can save children that once had no hope, but still these premature births are
not good. Poorly timed births are a negative reality. If there is a right time
for everything, there is also a bad time for everything.
There are millions of children conceived by acts which are forbidden by
God. Adultery, fornication, rape and incest to mention a few. In no way can
you say these conceptions are the will of God, for they violate His clear
revelation. The result is poorly timed births of children who are uninvited,
unloved, and unwanted. Abortion is the solution that millions choose to
prevent these births, and this also is not appointed by God. The beginning
and the end are out of His will. If you think all of this will make sense in
heaven, I think you will be greatly disappointed, for it will make no more
sense than Hitler's killing of 6 million Jews. It is all meaningless because it is
all based on the rejection of God's will.
All of this is to say, there is a time to be born, a right time; a time when the
parents are ready, the child is ready, and there is an environment of love.
This is being born as God intended birth. If there is a time to be born, then
there is also a time not to be born. Life either starts with good timing or poor
timing, and that start can often determine the destiny of a life.
"There is a time to die." We could spend a long time on this one. If there
is a time to die, there is also a time not to, which means, there is such a thing
as an untimely death. Mass murderers produce mindless and purposeless
death. It is not a part of a plan that is rightly timed. It is evil and folly, and
not a part of God's will.
This text was read at the funeral of the late President John Kennedy, but
his death was a good example of a time not to die. To be a president, and to
be assassinated is not part of God's ideal plan, for it is the result of evil.
Many leaders through history have died by the hands of assassins. There is
no doubt that sometimes it is a blessing, and even Christians plotted to
assassinate Hitler, but the fact remains, death by murder is not God's will.
The ideal time to die is when you have lived a life of obedience to God, and
can enter His presence assured that you leave behind an influence for His
glory. Just as there is a good time to be born, so there is a good time to die,
and man has more freedom of choice in this area than he realizes. The choice
to live a life of healthy exercise and eating is one that can make a major
difference in when a person dies. So also, family planning can determine
when a person will be born. There are many ways by which our choices can
determine the right time to be born or to die.
"There is a time to plant." This varies a great deal depending on where
you are in the world, and what it is you are planting, but everything has an
ideal time, and success depends on being wise enough to discover that time.
Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, recognized the importance of timing in
planting. He made it so farmers had the freedom to do what was necessary to
plant at the right time. Listen to this part of his Edict Of Milan back in A.D.
313. "On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people
residing in cities rest, and let all work shops be closed. In the country,
however, persons engaged in the work of cultivation may freely and lawfully
continue their pursuits, because it often happens that another day is not so
suitable for grain sowing, or for vine planting less by neglecting the proper
moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost." Christian
farmers were given the freedom not to keep the law of the Sabbath in order to
keep the law of nature, because the matter of timing can determine the
destiny of the crop. There is an ideal time, and those who do not seek it will
suffer.
"There is a time to pluck up what is planted." This is crucial too, and many a
farmer loses much of his crop by not harvesting it in time. Farming is so
much a matter of timing, and it takes a lot of wisdom to determine the ideal
time, but those who come closest to the ideal are the most successful farmers.
V. 3 "There is a time to kill." The idea of never killing any living creature is
impossible to achieve. A scientist once showed a leader from India, who
claimed to live with absolutely no taking of life, a microscope with some of his
drinking water under it. It was so full of living creatures that the man broke
the microscope rather than believe he was killing many living creatures every
time he took a drink.
Death is a vital part of life, and life only goes on because of death. There is
a time to kill and take life for the sake of life. But Solomon is not limiting this
to the need for food. There are numerous areas of life where killing may be
timely. For example: In a just war; self-defense; in administering justice; in
the duties of a police officer, and a swat team dealing with a dangerous
person who is threatening other lives. Like all of the others, this one can be
abused, and the timing be so off that the result is only a victory for evil.
Christians can kill at the wrong time and suffer judgment. Back in the year
1290, the Pope sent Christian soldiers to help liberate the Holy Land from the
control of the Muslims. They landed at the city of Acre on the coast North of
Jerusalem. It was the key Christian city of the Holy Land, and it was a place
of wealth and glory. Christians had ruled it for generations. Half of the
inhabitants were Muslims who lived in peace with the Christians.
The ignorant Crusaders, not bothering to learn and adjust to the new
culture they had entered, decided to fight the Muslims they encountered
there. They went on a rampage and started killing all of the Muslims in the
city. Many Christians with beards were mistaken for Muslims, and they were
murdered as well. Over a 1,000 died before the authorities of Acre could
arrest the blood crazed soldiers who came to help save the Holy Land.
When the Sultan Qalawrn heard what had happened, it was the beginning
of the end. The Christians apologized and tried to keep peace, but there was
no excuse for what had happened. The Muslims formed the largest army they
ever put together. There were 40,000 cavalry and 160,000 foot soldiers. They
marched on the city and ended 200 years of a Christian kingdom in the Holy
Land. The Christians were massacred, and all the other little towns of
Christians were forced to surrender, and the people were sold into slavery.
All because of some Christian soldiers who did not have the wisdom to know
there is a time not to kill even in war.
Had they killed Muslims in battle the Muslims would have held them in
esteem for their courage, but to cut down the innocent was an outrage they
could not tolerate. The fact that God did not spare His own people, but let
them suffer severe judgment reveals that God takes this matter seriously.
There is a time to kill, and a time not to. There is a time to heal. In this
couplet it would seem that to heal is in contrast with kill, and it almost seems
like it is more a military rather than medical idea. It is as if he is saying, there
is a time to kill your enemy, and a time to heal him, and show mercy, and to
seek to restore him from his wounds.
The paradox of war is seen in the treatment of prisoners. Many an
American has been saved by the doctors and surgeons of the enemy, just as
many of them have been saved by our doctors. This has been a practice of
civilized people, and it is agreed it is right for the enemy to provide care and
healing to those he is seeking to kill. The courtesy of the battlefield goes way
back. Saladin, the mightiest of the leaders of the Saracens, who fought many
battles with Richard the Lion Hearted, had it. When Richard became
severely ill, Saladin did not attack to take advantage of it, but instead sent a
messenger with special fruit cooled in the snow of the mountain to bring
healing. Only when he got well did they strive again to kill each other.
Strange but true, but there is something noble and right about recognizing
there is a time to heal even in fierce conflict.
There is a time to tear down. Back in 850 A.D. it was decided that the Great
International Exhibition would be held in London's Hyde Park in the
building which was unlike any ever made. Paul Auraundt in his book
Destiny, describes this structure which came to be known as the Crystal
Palace. It covered almost 20 acres with 5,000 tons of iron, and a third of a
million panes of glass. It took 24 miles of guttering to carry water away from
the roof. It was the pride of London for years until fire destroyed it in 1936,
but the great towers survived the fire, and they were preserved as a glittering
reminder of the days of glory.
Hitler's bombing persuaded the English to tear them down. It took the
British a while to figure out how the Germans could bomb London so
accurately, but finally they did. The glass towers would glisten in the moon
light even in a black out, and they became a guide for the German bombers.
So in 1941 the British demolished these magnificent towers. Precious as they
were, it was agreed by everyone that they had to be broken down.
This is not an encouragement for a nervous breakdown, but a call to be
aware that as much as we resist change, sometimes the best thing is to scrap
what you have built so far, and start over. There are projects going nowhere
that need to be dismantled, and dreams that need to be forsaken in order to
be free to get going on new projects and dreams that better fit the times, and
your own motivation.
We read of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, or of the Third Reich,
but all of us have such a history. We go through stages and sometimes the
interest of one stage is not the interest of the other. We need to learn to tear
down the old and obsolete, and make way for the new.
There is a time to build. Building is to be a major part of the believer's life.
Solomon built the greatest and most elaborate Jerusalem that ever existed. It
was the time to do it, for it was a rare time of peace, and he had the wisdom
and wealth to make it happen.
There is also a time not to build up. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, tried to
build up his fortune at what was an opportune time by taking advantage of
the Naaman's generosity. Elisha refused payment for his advice that led to his
being healed, but Gehazi followed him and lied about a need. Naaman gave
him a small fortune in silver and garments, and he rode off a happy con man.
Elisha came to him and said, "Was it a time to accept money and garments
and other gifts? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and
to your descendants forever." He choose the wrong time to build up, and the
result was he tore down his whole families heritage.
Paul writes, in Gal. 2:18, "But if I build up again these things which I tore
down, then I prove myself a transgressor." He tore down the old house of
law, and built a new house of faith, and it would be utter folly to build up that
old place again that could never meet his needs in the first place. It is always
times to tear down the works of self-righteousness, and build the house of
faith. There is a time to weep. It is not likely that anyone gets through life
without tears. Jesus didn't. He found appropriate times to weep, and,
therefore, to be Christlike is to be ready to shed tears when the time is right.
When tears are appropriate varies a great deal with the individual. I have
known women who cry so easily and so often that it seems a weakness, but
they were just super-sensitive people. They would cry for joy because they
were loved, and they would cry because of relief from a burden. They cried
for so many good things as well as tough things that it seemed like excessive
tears.
For others tears seem like a lack of self-control, and so the time for them to
feel comfortable to weep is not very often. Some men even have a hard time
weeping when it is clearly fitting. Paul said we are to weep with those who
weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. There is something about others
entering into the same experience that lifts and encourages. It is a paradox,
but weeping with someone in their sorrow can be an encouragement that ends
their weeping. Oliver Wendell Holmes said that laugher and tears are both
important powers. One is wind power, and the other water power, and they
both can turn the same machinery of sensibility. Joyce Hiflar said, "Jesus
wept, God forbid that I cannot."
William Blake wrote,
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go.
Safely may not be the right word. Wisely might be more realistic, for those
who can take the woe and not let it get them low, and crush them, often add
much to the joy of life for others. Corrie Bond is a good example. Her
prosperous father went bankrupt when she was ten, and a weeks later he
died. She married at 18, and had a son, but before he was 6 she was divorced.
She later married a respected doctor, Frank Bond, in 1889, and she enjoyed a
true love. It was a haven, at last, from her world of troubles. But 6 years
goes fast, and that is all she had, for Frank suddenly died. He always told her
to keep playing the piano and writing songs, and so that is what she did. She
went on to fame and wealth, and died in 1946 at age 84. We have all been
blessed by what she wrote. For example:
I love you truly, truly dear!
Life with its sorrows, life with its tear,
Fades into dreams when I feel you are near,
For I love you truly, truly dear!
In contrast, is John Toole. He wrote a book, but could not get it published.
He tried over and over, but it was always rejected by the publishers. His
mother did not give up when he did. She kept going to other publishers, and
finally found one who would publish the book called, Confederacy Of Duncer.
It became a best seller, and in 1981 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
It was John's mother who had to receive the prize, for John had given up and
had put a pistol to his head in 1969. He ended his life at age 32. He could not
take the woe times, so he missed the joy times too. Only those who take the
two together can make success in life.
There is a time to laugh. It follows, therefore, that there is a time not to laugh.
Jesus told the crowd that the little girl was not dead, but sleeping. There response
was, as recorded in Mark 5:40, "But they laughed at Him." It was poor timing for
laughter, for Jesus was not joking, but was dead serious, and when the little
girl was soon eating her lunch, the joke was on them.
Abraham and Sarah were told they would have a child in their old age,
and Sarah laughed. It would be a joke for anybody to have a baby at age 90,
but her laughter was a lack of faith, and so it was poorly timed. When her
son was born she laughed again, and named her son Issac, which means
laughter. It was a right time then to enjoy God's sense of humor.
There is a time to mourn. There are funeral times, and wedding times. There
are times for sorrow and times for gaiety. If it is true that there is a best time
for the various emotions, it follows then that we have a capacity to do a lot of
choosing about how we feel. We are not limited by the circumstances. Joyce
Hiffler put it in poetry,
Though April may bring you a shower or a flower-
A rainbow of every hew.
Though the sun may touch your nose or your toes-
Happiness depends on you.
Love may come with a flair or with care-
Or whistle a tune for your ear,
And whether the sound be a joy or annoy-
Depends upon how you hear.
Life waits for no one, nor hurries away-
It's there for the choosing, you see-
Whether April or May, or whatever the day-
It's that which you make it to be!
There is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. Stones were
gathered in order to make a fence or boundary of one's property, and this is
at times a good and necessary thing for order and the protection of one's
property. But the person who is forever building walls to protect himself, and
who never breaks them down, will become a hermit, and cut himself off from
relationships that give life meaning.
There is a time in embrace and a time to refrain. There is a time for affection,
and a time to be cool and save your affection for a more appropriate time.
People disturb others when they express affection constantly in public. At the
airport or bus stop it is okay if two people start hugging and kissing. In a
store or restaurant this seems out of place and bothers people. It is not that
anybody is anti-affection, but it seems to be to personal for public display. At
a wedding everybody is happy to see the bride and groom hold each other and
kiss, but the same thing in the mall makes people feel uncomfortable.
Solomon is just saying there are times when it is wise to refrain from
expressing affection.
There is a time to search and a time to give up.
There is a time to keep and a time to throw away. We tend to go to extremes,
and we either keep everything, like a packrat, and make all of life messy, or
we keep our environment neat by throwing everything away. I have been in
homes where keeping has become a key virtue of life. Not a newspaper in the
last ten years has left the house. You know the minute you walk in something
is wrong. The timing mechanism in these people is not working. They do not
have balance because they cannot throw things away.
It is a joy to go into a cluttered messy room and see it take on order as you
fill the waste basket or the garbage bag with junk. I have had this pleasure
many times in life. It is not always easy to know the best time to keep or to
throw away. Many times I've had the pleasure of seeing something on the
garage shelf that I was glad I did not throw away. On the other hand there
are things I have kept for years that should have been thrown away long ago.
We just need to work at balance and keep some things, and throw other
things away.
There is a time to tear and a time to mend.
There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. The quite time is a good
example when silence is precious. But silence when you should speak up is
not good. Silence can be golden, but it can also be just yellow. Sir Arthur
Conon Doyle had a large and eager audience as the creator of Sherlock
Holmes. Because of this he had a great responsibility for knowing when to
speak and when to keep silent. He did not recognize this, however,
and used his power of speech to destroy many lives. He got so caught up in
spiritualism, and in communicating with the dead, that he traveled
everywhere giving lectures on the subject.
His seven lectures in New York City's Carnegie Hall was a
record-breaking sell out. He so persuaded people that they could speak to
their dead loved ones that mediums did a thriving business, but so did the
undertaker. A rash of suicides followed his lectures. People rushed into the
next life to meet their loved ones. Suicide notes littered the town, and they all
had one thing in common: Gratitude to Arthur. This was not his intention,
and he cannot be held accountable for the foolish things people do, but the
fact is, he was giving people encouragement to do the foolish things they did.
He would have done more good by being silent until he could offer people
what they needed to live, rather than to escape.
Tom Dewey, in 1944, was running for president against Franklin
Roosevelt. He got some information that United States intelligence had
cracked the Japanese secret code. This meant Roosevelt knew of the plan to
attack Pearl Harbor before it happened. He struggled to know whether he
should bring this damming information into the campaign, or not. The nation
was still at war, and it could undermine U. S. intelligence. He chose to keep
silent. It was a wise decision, for in 1891, over a decade after Dewey died, a
secret document was declassified. It revealed that the Japanese code cracked
in 1931 was the diplomatic code, and not the military code. There was no
advance knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In fact, Japan's own
Premiere and Minister of War did not know about it. Dewey died not
knowing he had made the wise choice, but it was wise to chose silence.
There is a time to love and a time to hate. There are many things to hate in
this world, for it is a world full of things that are contrary to the will of God.
Alcoholism has a right to be near the top of things to be hated. Millions who
have seen their loved ones killed or maimed know what it is to hate
alcoholism. Paul Aurandt tells this true story of Miss C. A. Moore. She
married a doctor Charles Gloyal during the Civil War. He was a captain in
the war, and he began to drink. Miss Moore did not know until after they
were married in 1867. When patience came to him he was often drunk.
Things went down hill rapidly as she bore a child, and had to live in poverty
because of his drinking. Finally his father came to her rescue and took her to
his home. A year later her husband died of excessive drinking.
She remarried, and this time to a non-drinker. He was a minister named
David. This could have been a happy marriage, but she forgot there was a
time for love. She was so bitter that she devoted all her time to hate. She
became quit famous as she traveled around the country crusading against
demon rum. She was so obsessed that David divorced her on ground of
desertion. With the balance of love in her life she could have been a happy
wife, but she chose to be known only for her hatred. Her second husband,
however, did give her the name that she is famous for. His name was pastor
David Nation, the second husband of Carry Nation.
If you do not know the story of Carry Nation and her method of destroying
saloons with her hatchet, you do not know one of the great hate stories of
history. She had good reason to hate, and she did a lot of good because of her
hate, but she gave hate to great a portion of her time. The result of this lack
of balance was that her life missed one of God's greatest blessings. It is right
and good to hate evil, but it must be balanced with a love for good.
There is a time for war and a time for peace.
