A Time for Everything

Timing matters when comedians tell a joke or a quarterback throws a pass. Timing matters at work (don’t ask for a raise if your boss is having a bad day) . . . when you grill a steak (don’t cook it too long) . . . and when managing your finances (there’s a right time to buy and sell).

The word time or season appears 30 times in the first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3. The chapter starts by saying, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, New International Version). Using a poetic device called Hebrew parallelism, the writer lists a series of couplets that describe the fleeting, shifting cycle of life. The ups and downs mentioned in Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 include times . . .

Altogether these verses list 28 activities, divided into 14 pairs of positive and negative things that happen in a typical lifetime.

How Will You Spend Your Time?

Time is precious. Whether you’re young or old, rich or poor, you have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. People say, “Time is money.” Many workers are paid by the hour. We talk about “spending time.” Wouldn’t it be great if someone gave you $1,440 every day? God gives you 1,440 minutes every day—over half a million minutes each year.

Time is non-renewable—a resource to be stewarded well. You can’t actually save time. If you waste time, it’s gone and can’t be reclaimed. William Penn said, “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” If you are 20 years old, you already have spent more than 10 million minutes—and the clock is ticking.

Time can move slowly or quickly. Time flies when you’re on vacation, but it drags when you’re at a red stoplight or enduring a dull class or business meeting. When I watch football on TV, my wife asks, “How much longer till the game is over?” I reply, “It’s down to the last two minutes.” But the final two minutes of a close football game can take half an hour!

Time is a gift of God. Someone quipped, “That’s why it’s called ‘the present’!” Scripture says, “Teach us to number our days” (Psalm 90:12). We shouldn’t squander time, for we don’t know how much we’ll be given.

Maximizing Your Time

How can you make the most of your time?

Embrace the season. There is a time to plant. When you’re young, you are planting habits and friendships that will either build or destroy your health and reputation. You are developing your worldview, values, and goals. Plant wisely.

There are times to weep—to embrace the loss and feel the sadness—but there also are times to laugh.

Should you search for a new job and make new friends? Is it time to downsize and give things away? Should you keep your mouth shut or speak up? We need God’s help to decide what to do as life’s seasons unfold. David wrote, “My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:15).

Know the reason. Ecclesiastes reminds us that without God, life is meaningless. Without God, we merely “put in our time” as if we’re serving a prison sentence. But life isn’t meaningless; it’s a prelude to eternity. The Lord “has made everything beautiful in its time” and he “has set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Augustine said our hearts are restless until they rest in God. Do you have a restless soul? Do you long to connect with God? Do you feel a spiritual itch you cannot scratch? These are signs of eternity in your heart—a reminder that this world isn’t enough.

Every season is a time to prepare yourself and others for the place where time will be no more.

This is the second in a series of articles based on the book of Ecclesiastes. Next week: “We Need Friends” (Ecclesiastes 4).