excert -Sermon by Dr. W. Marshall Davis Pastor of the First Baptist Church Rochester, PA
To Everything There is a Season Ecclesiastes 3:1-15; Psalm 90
December 30, 2008...
... Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It was written by King Solomon. Not long ago I took you through a study of the Song of Solomon, which he wrote when he was a young man. He wrote the Book of Proverbs throughout his life when he was a middle-aged man. The book of Ecclesiastes he wrote later in his life. There is a lot of wisdom in this book. These are the words of a man who has been through the school of hard knocks. He knows things from personal experience, and he shares them with his readers. He has some things to say to us as we stand on the cusp of a new year. I am going to divide this passage into two points. Solomon mentions them both in the first verse: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” First I am going to talk about the seasons of life. Second I am going to talk about the purposes of life.
I. In verses 2-8 he names the SEASONS OF LIFE:
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 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 of war, And a time of peace.
It is beautiful just to speak these words out loud. With every verse our hearts say, “Amen.” We have been there, and if you haven’t you will. We could put a personal story to every one of these verses. They describe the rhythms of our lives. They describe the seasons of our years – our childhood, our youth, our adult years, our middle years, our later years – if God blesses us with them. I am what they call “middle age.” If I am in the middle of my life, it means I will live to be 114. I don’t think so. Life expectancy for a male in the US is 75 years, so that makes me “three-quarters age.” There are no guarantees we all with reach 75; that is an average. We do not have a guarantee from God we will get a minimum of 75 years on earth. Psalm 90:10 says, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten (70 years); and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years (80 years), yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” That was considered then the maximum. There were exceptions of course. Moses, who wrote that palm, lived longer, but he was the exception in those days. God prolonged his life so that he could take the people of Israel to the edge of the Promised Land. The truth is none of us knows how long we have to live. Therefore it makes sense on this last Sunday before the New Year to “to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” as Psalm 90:12 says.
Ecclesiastes 3 describes the seasons of life. There are good times and bad times, times of joy and times of sadness, times of pain and times of pleasure, times of plenty and times of want, times of illness and times of health. We each could come up with our own list of seasons of life just as Solomon does here. What does Solomon say about these seasons of life? Verse 11 gives us Solomon’s assessment of them.
He says that they are all beautiful in their time. Verse 11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” That is quite a statement! He has made everything beautiful? Everything he just mentioned? What does he mean by this? I think that Solomon in his God-given wisdom and in his experience of age sees life from a higher perspective than most of us. He sees that the good and the bad are part of a bigger pattern that God is making in our lives. Before I came to Pennsylvania I was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an old textile mill town on the Merrimack River which powered the mills back during the industrial revolution. And there is still a textile industry there although it is now small. Most cloth is made overseas now where the labor is cheaper. At many funerals in that old mill town I was asked to read a poem entitled “Just A Weaver” by Benjamin Malachi Franklin. I was asked to read that poem there as often as I have been asked to read “Footprints” here.
(HERE) The poem goes like this:
My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow,
and I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver's hand
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned
Solomon got a glimpse of the bigger pattern of life and that is why he could say, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
He then says in verse 11 “Also He has put eternity in their hearts.” Other translations, including the old KJV translate this very differently, saying that God has put the world in men’s hearts. “he hath set the world in their heart.” But the Hebrew word is olam, which means everlasting or forever. It is the word used in Genesis 3:22 where God says that if man eats of the tree of life he will live olam = forever. God makes an olam covenant with Noah, an everlasting covenant. It is the word Abraham uses in Gen 21:33 to describe God as “El Olam” the “eternal God” or the “everlasting God.” After looking at the Hebrew it seems like the NKJV and most modern translations get it right; the word in question is eternity. “He has put eternity in their hearts.” “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” (NIV) What does this mean? It means that in every human being there is a sense of the eternal. One modern translation (GOD'S WORD Translation) even translates verse 11: ”It is beautiful how God has done everything at the right time. He has put a sense of eternity in people's minds.”
Solomon is saying that every time and season and event in our lives has an eternal aspect. There are no accidents. There are no unimportant events. Even the most ordinary and seemingly trivial happening has an eternal purpose. Jesus says in Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Everything that happens is eternally meaningful.
Every person is of eternal importance. God has placed eternity in your heart. This is not the New Age that we are gods or that there is a spark of the divine in us. We are mortal creatures made from the dust of the earth, but God has placed eternity in our hearts. He has given us eternal souls and has put a hunger in us to live with Him forever. Augustine said “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.”
Next Solomon says in verse 11, “Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” There is a mystery to God’s eternal purpose in time.
That Hebrew word olam that I was talking about earlier has a root meaning of “that which is hidden.” The very etymology of the word reveals the truth that there is eternity hidden in time. If it is hidden, it means that we do not see it. Solomon says, “no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” Solomon with all his wisdom is saying that the work of God in man on earth is to a great extent a mystery. You know one of my favorite verses, Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” But the reality is that we do not understand or see HOW all things work together for good. It will not be “till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why.” ......(end excert).
...... see entire sermon for much more: http://home.comcast.net/~wmarshalldavisjr/12-30-07.html
(will is "Will" whether we wonder or when and how God wills it, it is God's; or "Of God to.."; since we can recognize the written discern, a prayer, I pray, that in "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" that this is the will our wealding be from, of, and to; including the praise to Him as we see and interpret daily that which seems to us as "what has or is , that becomes... whatever"...?)
reason - Origin of reason Encyclopedia.com: Dictionary of Etymology
Origin of reason – Our etymology dictionary has the origin of the word reason. ... reason." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. ...www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-reason.html - 81k
Home Page For reason - What is reason?
Web Site and Home Page For Everything about reason ... Etymology - The origin of the word reason in English. Languages -The Translation, Meaning, Etymology, ...www.humanityquest.com/topic/Index.asp?theme1=reason
Blue Letter Bible - Lexicon
Root Word (Etymology) a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act ... because of for this reason. 4) therefore. 5) on this ... 1223&t=KJV&cscs ...blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=1223&t=KJV&... -
Blue Letter Bible - Lexicon
Root Word (Etymology) from G1223 and G3049. TDNT ... AV — reason 11, dispute 1, cast in the mind 1, muse 1, think 1, consider 1 ... Strongs=G1260&t=KJV > ...www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1260&t=KJV -
EvC Forum: Why Etymology instead of the given English KJV translation ?
... Why Etymology instead of the given English KJV translation ? ... The information is there, but you must keep in mind the reason why you are doing this exercise. ...www.evcforum.net/cgi-bin/dm.cgi?action=msg&f=1&t=256&m=1 - 55k -
Eber :: definition, usage and history for the word " Eber
And in both KJV books, the word "Hebrew" refers to the descendants of this person. The reason for this is rooted in etymology, and in the different origins of the ...timothyministries.org/theologicaldictionary/...?theword=eber -
KJV Translation & Location ] 1) cause, manner, reason [ -- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon ] ... Word Etymology & Grammar ] AV - float 1; 1. floats. 1Kg: 5: ...www.qbible.com/h/170.html - 135k -
KJV (Living Strong's) - Greek Lexicon
Word Etymology & Grammar ] ... or speaking 2) pertaining to the reason or ... MIND alone 2a) reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, ...www.qbible.com/g/305.html - 51k -
Article about "Eber" in the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
And in both KJV books, the word "Hebrew" refers to the descendants of this person. The reason for this is rooted in etymology, and in the different origins of the ...july.fixedreference.org/en/20040724/wikipedia/Eber -
marshal (etymology)
Part of Speech: verb
Pronunciation: ['mah(r)-shêl]
Definition: To arrange in order (troops), to bring together and organize (facts).
Usage: Today's word does not simply mean to raise or conjure up, so avoid expressions like "marshal the strength to do something." This verb means to put together in an organized fashion, "Through a combination of courses at college, experience, and a broad range of reading, Virgil managed to marshal the skills he needed to carry out his new job." Here is another, "When the attendance dropped dramatically in Professor Draco's class, he persuaded the dean to marshal a committee to investigate student absenteeism."
Suggested Usage: Not to be confused with the surname, Marshall. Today's word ends on a single [l] which may be doubled when suffixed, as in "marshalled, marshalling," but that should not confuse you. The noun, "marshal," as a federal marshal, field marshal, or marshal at a ceremony, is spelled with only one [l], too.
Etymology: Today's word is taken from the noun, "marshal," another widely traveled word that entered Middle English as "mareschal," from Old French "mareschal." Old French previously borrowed it from Old High German marahscalc "keeper of the horses," a compound based on marah "horse" + scalc "servant," a word akin to Old English scealc "servant." "Marah" was related to Old English myre "mare," which today is "mare." The shift in meaning from a servant to a person of high rank is surprising but no doubt resulted from the importance of horses to medieval transportation, especially among officers in the military.
Just looking for some admiral views.
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