Eturnity

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/3.htm

There can be little doubt that this is the most well-known passage in Ecclesiastes. Much of the credit for its endurance in pop culture goes to The Byrds for their folk rock version of this passage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4

Stylistically, there seem to be pairings: birth and planting, kill and tear down, weep and mourn, etc. each of these is contrasted with either the end result (plant à uproot) or a direct contrast (kill à heal). The message is simple: Just as there are seasons in the year, there are seasons in our lives. Some seasons are times of creativity, and wonder; others of turmoil and trouble. Again, there is an invitation to consider the big picture, the full spectrum of life.

While there is a time for planting, eventually you will reap what you sow. At times we scatter, other times we build. Some days we dance (as long as we are not Baptists) and other days we weep. While there is a time for embracing, there is a time for “personal space” or even to avoid someone altogether.

Perhaps the final words, “a time for war, and a time for peace” are the most difficult for Christians to accept, yet, the message here rings true (contrary to the final message The Byrds insert into the poem). There may be a time for peace, but in the fallen world we live in, there may not be a chance for it.

It seems to me that verses 9-11 are the ending of this section, at least conceptually; the message being, “What profit is there? All things are made appropriate (NASB) or beautiful (ESV/NLT) in their time, concluding the thought of 3:1, “there is a time for everything…”). Somehow all the good and bad, the planting, uprooting, silence and speaking, and so forth contribute to the appointed time, the purpose or “work” (NASB) that God is doing “under Heaven” in and around us.

The highlight of this passage for me has always been the thought that “He has set eternity in our heart…” as if there is a seed of longing (think C.S. Lewis and senhsucht). That is why in the end, all things are meaningless, repetitive, seemingly vain under the sun, but in Heaven, all things have a perfect purpose; including that sense of dissatisfaction. This discontent, or disassociation that we feel at times with the world around us has divine purpose, to cause us to long for the eternal. In that sense, the meaningless we trudge through here makes us hanker for the hereafter, and this is a very good thing.