IT'S ABOUT TIME
Think about the concept of time. Our memories are recalling moments in time. We measure things by time. Right now the Olympics are going on. Many of the events are measured by time-who has the fastest time. We measure out days and weeks and seasons. We need to know what time it is. Time management is an important factor in our lives. We all wish we had more time yet we waste so much of it. Let's see what the bible has to say about time.
1) A time for everything.
It's understood that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes toward the end of his years as a kind of summation of what he had learned about life. As he pondered time and cycles he learned some things about how life operates.
Ecc. 3:1-8, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
There is a time for everything to happen and a time to do everything. Our world runs on a schedule. Solomon makes it clear that there is the natural order of things in life-birth and death, planting and harvesting. When the time comes for the first to be done it's inevitable that the time for the second thing will happen at some point.
And when it comes to something like planting and harvesting you won't be able to do the latter if you miss the right time to do the former. If you procrastinate and don't plant when the time is right you will miss the opportunity, which means you will not enjoy the harvest. When we know it's time to do something we need to take advantage of the opportunity before me miss out.
Planting and uprooting can apply to different things in life. There's a time to settle down and stay a while but the time may come when it's appropriate to uproot and go somewhere else. That can happen with a business. Sometimes a business changes locations; they want a nicer location or a bigger facility. Perhaps the area has changed over time and business has slowed down so they decide to uproot and plant themselves in a better location so their profits can increase. Sometimes churches change locations for similar reasons.
The thing to be clear on is when to do it. Wait too long and the opportunity can pass you by. Act too soon and you miss a remedy for your situation. Timing is everything. Solomon tells us there is a proper way for things to happen.
His words about the natural order and timing of things is true regarding the spiritual order of things too. God does things according to perfect timing. And when he moves us to do something it's about timing.
When the Holy Spirit told Philip to go up to the Ethiopian's chariot it was the perfect time. He was reading the prophecy concerning Jesus' affliction in Isaiah 53 about a sheep being led to the slaughter. Philip asked if he understood what he was reading and he responded with a 'no' because he didn't know who Isaiah was talking about. That gave Philip the lead in to introduce Jesus.
Had Philip ignored the Spirit's precise timing the Ethiopian may have left and the opportunity would've been gone. Not that God wouldn't have provided another opportunity for the Ethiopian in his 'next encounter' but he wanted it to happen with Philip at that specific time. Sometimes God's timing can seem strange but we shouldn't ignore it because God has a reason not only for what he does, but when he does it.
I won't cover all the things Solomon lists here but let's look at a few. 'A time to keep and a time to throw away'. Sometimes we get rid of things too soon. There's nothing wrong with the one we have we just want the newer model. Not that it's always the wrong thing to do but it's wise when we put, 'a time to keep' into practice. When it can be fixed or if it still does what you need it to why not keep it?
'A time to throw away'. That can be a tough one; especially if you have a problem with hoarding things. It's hard to let things go when you become attached to them for whatever reason. But most things in life are meant to be replaced; they're not designed to last forever no matter how well you take care of them. Things get old, they break down, they become obsolete.
But sometimes we're so accustomed to our favorite things we don't want the newer model. I typically like to keep something until I can't use it anymore. My computer has Windows 7, I didn't get a smart phone until this year and I'd still be driving my 1998 Buick if the frame hadn't rusted out. But when it's time to let it go we need to let it go and move on.
'A time to be silent and a time to speak'. There's one we could all do better in! Knowing when to do each is crucial. Timing can be everything here too. Don't speak up when we should and the moment can be lost forever. Speak up when the time is wrong and we say something we end up regretting later.
We should be quick to speak encouragement but slow to speak criticism. We need to consider our words when someone is suffering and also when the topic is a sensitive one. Prov. 15:23, "A man finds joy in giving an apt reply-and how good is a timely word!" There's a time to speak and a time to be silent.
There's one line from this passage that may cause us some concern: 'a time to love and a time to hate'. If we're supposed to love our enemies then when is it time to hate? When you understand the Hebrew meaning of the word hate in this verse it makes more sense.
Here it means to shun, or to be an enemy. We may need to shun someone if they're not good for us. And because of our devotion to Jesus we may have enemies. Prov. 29:10 says bloodthirsty men hate a man of integrity. Solomon is telling us that unfortunately, love and hate are just part of life.
In all these examples we can see a pattern of give and take, ebb and flow, good and bad; this is life. It's not all love, healing and peace; there's also death, pain and war. To say there's a time for these things communicates these opposites are inevitable; there's a time when all of this will happen.
Sometimes we can see it coming, sometimes we can't. But we can be prepared. Not that we live each day waiting for death and sickness and pain and war to break out but we live knowing that these things are realities in life and rely on the Lord we can prepare ourselves to withstand them.
But we can see this in a good way too. It's not all gloom and doom; it's not all death and suffering. Grief subsides and we find happiness again. When we get hurt there's pain but over time healing occurs. When we're in the midst of sorrow we know it will eventually end; it's not a constant.
Solomon is putting the obvious into perspective for us but we need to be reminded of these things. Life is about seasons and cycles. There is a time for everything and everything has its due time.
2) Timing is everything.
This phrase can be used in a positive way when things come together just right or it can be used in a negative way when things happen simultaneously that produces a problematic outcome. You've heard people say, 'he was in the right place at the right time' or they say the opposite-wrong place at the wrong time.
We can look at this as coincidental, fate or dumb luck, but we should look to see how it may be divine timing. Whether they result in a positive outcome or a negative one, What is God trying to show us in allowing it to happen? The timing of when things happen is important.
In the story of Esther, the Jews were living in Susa under king Xerxes. After Queen Vashti died, Esther was chosen to replace her. Esther had a cousin, Mordecai, who raised her after her parents died. She kept her Jewish identity a secret because Mordecai had instructed her to do so.
Later, a man named Haman devised a plot to destroy the Jews. King Xerxes had elevated him to a position of high honor. The king commanded people to bow and honor him but Mordecai wouldn't. Haman hated him for that. Learning that he was a Jew, Haman didn't just want to kill him, he sought to destroy all the Jews.
So without mentioning the Jews by name, Haman went to the king and painted them in a threatening light. The king issued a decree to get rid of them. When Mordecai learned of Haman's plot, he sent word to Esther, the one person who could help. He wanted her to approach the king to get him to stop this from happening.
Esther told the messenger if someone went to the king without being summoned they were put to death. The one exception was if the king extended the golden scepter.
Est. 4:12-17, "When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions."
Mordecai makes it clear that if Esther doesn't intervene God will do something to deliver his people. But he wanted Esther to consider all that has happened and to realize that perhaps she was chosen to be the Queen for this very moment. She was the one who had the king's favor; she was the only one who could get the king to save her people. She took it all in and concluded that she was willing to risk her life to save her people.
If you read on you'll see that things worked out in favor of Esther and the Jews when Haman's plot was revealed. He ended up being hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. There were other great things that happened as well so if you haven't read Esther I encourage you to.
Think about the events of your life and the way things have unfolded. Was there ever a time when you looked back and realized God had worked things out for you to be used in a specific way for such a time as this? Timing is everything. Sometimes we think the time is right but it isn't.
John 7:1-9, "After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.” Having said this, he stayed in Galilee."
Since Jesus' brothers didn't yet believe in him as the Messiah, they didn't consider things from a spiritual perspective; they didn't have in mind the things of God. They used worldly wisdom to determine what time was best. Jesus used divine wisdom to determine when to do things.
There were times when Jesus healed a person and told them not to tell anyone. But typically, the person was too excited to keep it to himself and he went and told people anyway. It's not that Jesus didn't want the people to know he could do miracles, but there were times when it wasn't the right time to tell.
When Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, Peter answered that he was the Christ. Then Jesus told them not to tell anyone. It's not that Jesus didn't want people to know he was the Messiah, but the time for this to be made public had not yet come. Jesus did everything according to divine timing.
We should look to the Lord for the right time to do things. Do something too soon or too late and the results can be serious. Timing is everything if we don't want to ruin everything. Sometimes we'd like to see the things we desire happen now; we don't want to have to be patient and wait for things to happen. But we need to understand that God operates in perfect timing. He causes things to happen in connection to his infinite wisdom. He determines when the time is right, not us.
3) Time is everything.
Time is such a precious commodity. The older we get the more we realize this. Our world runs on time; we are bound by it. Time is something we can't stop and it waits for no man. The only one who has control over time is God because God is the only one not bound by it. Every second, past, present and future is now to God. He is the I Am, not the I was or I will be.
But, since everything on earth runs by time, we are forced to govern our lives by it. Therefore, since time is so precious, it would be wise for us to think about the time we have.
Psalm 90:12, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
A heart of wisdom understands that time is not something any of us are guaranteed. Therefore, we need to make the most of it. Not that we need to always be on the go but we should evaluate what we're doing with our waking hours. Are we making the best use of our time? Are we using it wisely to bring about the most good and make the biggest impact?
Eph. 5:15-16, "Be very careful then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
The NASB words it as, 'making the most of your time'. You've heard the phrase, 'time is of the essence'. That indicates there's a sense of urgency attached to something. It's about making a decision; it's about seizing the opportunity. If you wait too long something may not turn out well.
In this case, Paul wants me to consider the evilness of the times as a motivator to consider how I live and when to act. It's like he's saying, 'Be more serious about how you conduct yourselves so you can be a better influence to more people. And don't let a good opportunity pass you by; time is of the essence'.
You've heard the sales pitch, 'don't delay-act now'. Salesmen try to get us to do that so we will buy their product before we change our mind. We've also heard the pitch, 'while supplies last'. They want us to think people are hurrying in to buy the product and pretty soon there won't be any left so we better act now before they're gone.
Sometimes, the pitch can ring true. It we wait too long the opportunity to get one for a good price will be gone. Paul wants us to act now and not delay, kind of for the same reasons-so we don't talk ourselves out of doing something and to not wait until the opportunity is gone.
Time is of the essence because the days are evil. Paul saw all the hindrances and opposition there was to living a godly life and making the most of our time. He wants us to understand the ways Satan will try to stop us.
And since the days are evil the need to live righteously and take advantage of opportunities to serve Christ are vital. There is so much to do and so many people to try to influence for Jesus that there isn't a moment to waste. The need to put these verses into practice is more crucial today than it was when Paul wrote them since the Lord's return is closer now.
Time is everything and everything in due time. It's about timing; it's about understanding the times; it's about time.
