A Time for Every Season: God’s Sovereignty and Human Limits
Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
1For everything there is a time, and a time for every pleasure under the heavens.2A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot what has been planted.3A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break through and a time to build.4A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.5A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.6A time to seek and a time to destroy, a time to keep and a time to cast away.7A time to tear and a time to sew, a time to be silent and a time to speak.8A time to love and a time to hate, a time for battle and a time for peace.9What advantage has the one who does the work in which he labors?10I have seen the task that God has given to the children of man to be occupied with.11He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into their heart, so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.12I know that there is nothing good in them except to rejoice and to do good in one's life.13And also that every man who eats and drinks and sees good in all his toil—this is the gift of God.14I know that whatever God does will be forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it; and God has done it so that they may fear before him.15Whatever has been is already, and what is to be has already been; and God seeks what has been pursued.16And moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.17I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.18I said in my heart concerning the children of man that God is testing them to show them that they are beasts.19For the fate of the children of man and the fate of the beast is one fate for them; as this one dies, so dies that one; they all have one spirit, and man has no advantage over the beast, for all is vanity.20All go to one place; all come from the dust, and all return to the dust.21Who knows the spirit of the children of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?22And I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what will be after him?