PPic: Oberon Golf Course - Links Pro Am 2006

PGA Chaplain Bible Studies

Weekly Study No 8 - 11/05/2009

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2: verses 17 to 20, 23 to 25

“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.

Your time is fixed!

Our reading for this week is the most well known passage in the book of Ecclesiastes. And most times it is used it is used in a positive way to talk about the diverse experiences of life.  Being born, planting, building, laughing, dancing, and gathering, embracing, searching, mending and loving are some of the greatest experiences of life. Yet the context shows also the frustration of not being able to keep something and having to let it go. One of the most frustrating parts of life is our lack of control of it and that our time is fixed. I see in all of us the anger and frustration at having to let go at certain times in our life. The most difficult I see is letting go of our independence as we get older. Having to give up our home and go into a retirement village or nursing home tops the list as a pastor in an ageing congregation. It frightens me to think how I will handle such a change.

Each phrase of our reading speaks of an opposite reaction, in most cases a good action followed by an action forced upon us.

The verses that follow next week (v9 to 14) will tell us that it is God who fixes these experiences in such a way that is beyond our understanding. So asking why these things is natural, but we never find answers to our satisfaction.

It helps us to accept that there is a time for everything and a time to let everything go. That may be hard for us, but in a way it can help us appreciate what we have while we have it. All of us will die one day; it doesn’t help to ignore this or not prepare for it or not talk about it.

In a similar way, we all long for peace, but we acknowledge that peace sometimes comes at a price; you have to fight for it.
Part of the great learning in life is realising we are not God, or masters of our own destiny, but God is God and we can trust our lives to him and know we are in good hands.  

Gracious God, we praise you that you are in control of life; help me to accept the things I cannot change. Our thoughts today go to our elderly who are struggling with their dependence on others.  Amen.

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