I was listening to my friend, Jerry Bryant recently, and he referenced Ecclesiastes 3 by saying it describes the “dance of life.” I immediately thought through the verses and realized how accurate he was. So, I thought in this month’s issue of the Kernels, we would consider this dance of life and what The Preacher (Solomon) would say about it.
These verses in Ecclesiastes are a classic, often quoted passage of scripture. When Rodney Dillard and Mitch Jayne, of The Dillards, wrote their classic song, “There is a Time,” it was obviously inspired by this passage. They were able to perform the song numerous times while they were appearing on the Andy Griffith Show. This collection of verses speaks to the concept that there are seasons in our life that bring varying degrees of satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment.
Solomon begins in verse 1 by setting the tone for the rest of passage by identifying the cyclical nature of our lives. He writes that there is a time and season for everything and every activity under heaven. Our lives are not a static existence, with no variables whatsoever coming our way. He underscores the fact that everything we experience and every event that comes into our lives, is part of the Providence of a Sovereign God in full display. We see the hand of Someone who is higher than our daily affairs and directs our footsteps in such a way that we cannot fathom living this life apart from the God who made us and saved us.
For each of us, there is a time to be born (verse 2). You may have heard it said, “that baby will come when it is good and ready.” Well, that is not totally accurate, but it does come when its Creator is ready. Our time to be born is in His hands. In like manner, there is a time to die. The writer of Hebrews states that it is an appointed thing for man (mankind) to die, and after that the judgment. Being born when God determines and dying when God orders is certainly a part of the Dance of Life. The psalmist wrote this in the 31st psalm.
“My times are in Your hand.”
Charles Spurgeon wrote that God is the Sovereign arbiter of our destiny and holds in His own power all the issues of our life. We are steered by infinite wisdom towards our desired haven. Spurgeon continues by stating the reason David uses the plural here is to mark the variety of casualties by which the life of man is usually harassed. We all have a time to be born and we all have a time to die. These truths are evidence of the rhythm of creation and destruction that characterizes the very matter of human existence. The cycle of life and death that governs the natural world, serves as a reminder of our mortality and the importance of living purposefully.
Solomon also points out there is a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. Just like there is time that is best for sowing the seed, there is a time that is right for the harvesting of the crop that sprang from the seed. This is not only true for agriculture, but it is also true for our every day lives in God. We are constantly sowing the seed of the Word of God (Luke 8:11) as we meander through our lives. There is also a time when we see the fruition on that seed, but almost never when we think we might. Godis still the Lord of the Harvest and the plucking up of what has been planted is in His hands as well.
The Preacher writes there is a time to kill and a time to heal (verse 3); there is time to break down and time to build up. When God called Jeremiah at a young age to be His prophet and speak to the people, He told him,
“See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant .”
The Dance of Life takes in all quadrants of activity that may be defined as destruction, but also the ones that identify restoration and creation. There are moments when tearing down is necessary to being able to rebuild and heal. There are times in our lives when God, through often unsavory means, causes us to be “broken down” so that He can reassemble us in a way that pleases Him and makes us more useful to Him. Remember when He was administering The Lord’s Supper for the first time, He blessed the bread – then He broke it.
That process is often true in our lives, as He blesses us and then breaks us. The good news is that after Jesus blessed and then broke the bread, then He gave it. It is like what A.W. Tozer said,
“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. God actually rises up storms of conflict in relationships at times in order to accomplish that deeper work in our character.”
Next, we see the writer taking us to a place where we recognize there is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance (verse 4). Life is not a bed of roses, but neither is it a continual place of sadness and grief. It all equals the human life. Someone has described these verses as capturing the emotional spectrum of the human experience.
We are driven to acknowledge the inevitable nature of both sorrow and joy in our life. We know that it is true that our world will consist of moments of sadness and grief that is interspersed with moments of happiness and celebration. The Psalmist again in chapter 30 states it this way.
“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
If you are in a season of your life where you find yourself weeping a lot, take heart because there is joy on your horizon. We understand that pain is only temporary and that the promise of joy will follow. In Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon writes in the day of prosperity be happy. But in the day of adversity consider – God has made the one as well as the other. It is the adversity that causes us to react or respond hastily and in a way that does not demonstrate our dependence and trust on God.
Solomon continues by writing there is a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing (verse 5). There are seasons in our life when we are letting go and holding on to things, and maybe people. The constant ebb and flow of relationships in our life illuminates there are seasons for connecting and seasons to withdraw. That withdrawal might be a change in the relationship, or it might simply mean a withdrawal for a temporary time for the purpose of solitude. This brings us to a place of realizing the need for us to prioritize our lives, and especially those relationships that are an intricate part of our world.
This also applies to the next line in Solomon’s writings.
“A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.” (verse 6)
We can never hold onto anything or anyone that occupies a place of priority over the Lord our God. Sometimes we have to let go of some things so that God can bring us into places where He knows we will flourish. We can foster and grow a relationship to the fullest extent, and at the same time maintain an overarching commitment to the Lord over anything and anyone else. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke 14:26 –
“If you want to be My disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison —your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.” NLT
I like the fact that the New Living Translation adds the words “by comparison.” This is because these words from our Lord have caused many to scratch their heads when Jesus is instructing us to hate our family. But, when we understand He was speaking comparatively, not absolutely, head scratching can cease. Of course He isn’t telling us to hate our father and mother, etc.; but compared to our commitment to Him and our love for Him, our love for these other people is described as hate…comparatively speaking. Again, we prioritize our relationship with God above all and everyone else.
These same principles play out in the remaining verses (7 & 8).
“A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
We understand that this Dance of Life we are living will sometimes be high time of joy and happiness, but will also be challenging times and days of adversity. There is a time and season for all of it and we need all of it to become the complete followers of Jesus Christ we are called to be. We see in the coordination of events and activities in our lives the majestic wisdom of our Maker as He orders our lives and directs our steps. We may always want to live in the time to sew, speak, love, and peace. But we realize there are also times when we tear (apart), keep silent, hate, and engage in war. Many of what we would consider negative activities or seasons are brought on by the carnal choices we make as human beings. But at the end of the day, God is God and still sits on the throne and as the old song says, He has the whole world in His hands.
I thought I would leave you with the lyrics to that great song I mentioned earlier, “There is a Time,” for there truly is a time and season for everything; there really is a time for every matter under heaven.
THERE IS A TIME
By Rodney Dillard/Mitch Jayne
1963 (or earlier)
[Verse 1]
There is a time for love and laughter
The days will pass like summer storms
The winter wind will follow after
But there is love and love is warm
[Verse 2]
There is a time for us to wander
When time is young and so are we
The woods are greener over yonder
The path is new the world is free
[Verse 3]
There is a time when leaves are fallin’
The woods are gray the paths are old
The snow will come when geese are callin’
You need a fire against the cold
[Verse 4]
There is a time for us to wander
When time is young and so are we
The woods are greener over yonder
The path is new the world is free
[Verse 5]
So do your roaming in the springtime
And you’ll find your love in the summer sun
The frost will come and bring the harvest
And you can sleep when day is done