I want to pray…I want to rest in the word…I want to feed on the word. I have some time.
I will look at my chapter. Ecclesiastes 3
Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.
Turn, Turn, Turn…
We do not choose our own time to be born, or to die. But we are living in a sad time when others than God can choose if a child will be born, or when a person might die. And we call such choices just and protected rights under the law. Some Catholics believe that aborted fetuses go to hell. What a sad belief. It’s not a choice, it’s a life. What a clever slogan. But people are choosing every day to kill the most innocent of all human beings. I once knew a student at a
A time to be born, and a time to die. God knows every soul by name. The numbers of hairs on an aborted babies head. He knows the day each soul should pass on to eternity. The Sanctity of Life…is the choice really up to us?
If God knows a person will be murdered, that the plug will be pulled, that the bomb will fall…is anyone but God to blame? Did Jesus die on the cross because ultimately all Sin was God’s fault anyway…for coming up with a faulty plan. Of course not! That is just cynicism.
And I have set out to pray, not be cynical.
And so I pray, for the lives entrusted to my care. Hurting lives, confused lives. Perhaps lives that sprang from unrighteous behavior, perhaps lives affected by the sins of their parents, oh Lord, protect those lives. At home, at school, on the streets of the community. Protect them Lord, they are lost in sin, lost in the darkness, but not without hope or purpose. Bless them LORD with your truth. Let their ears be opened that they might hear you calling their names.
A time to plant, a time to reap…as long as this world continues, there will be planting time and harvest time. Seasons, determined from creation, changed a little at the time of the flood, perverted at times by the pollution of unwise stewards, but oh joy and rapture…Spring is coming! The land is dry. The drought is not over. But the sparrows sing in full chorus anyway. Glory to the King. Send your rain and rainbows. Send new life and renew your promises. Thy Will be done, Thy Kingdom come.
A time to kill? Is there really ever a time to kill? To kill an enemy rather than to love him. To kill a living soul rather than to try to enlighten it. The Bible says there is a time to kill. Perhaps it is a time to kill lies or bad ideas. Or should we look at it as the opposite of a time to heal. God does not always heal the way we’d like Him to does he? I couldn’t be so cynical as to say that healings don’t happen anymore. But I have serious doubts, when sweet children are trapped in wheel chairs while hopping charismatics declare freedom from a pain in their neck. LORD, my kids need healing. Healing of their intellects, their minds, some even need physical healing in that area. Kill the violent ideas and dark thoughts that rage in their young brains, and replace them with a love and a hunger for truth and life.
A time to break down walls and road blocks and a time to build up the highways of holiness. That’s a nice, religious sounding, churchy thing to say isn’t it? In my community it is time to break down the barriers of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds, and to build up – complete building the housing units that have been sitting undone and ruined for years. That’s a nice, practical way to look at it.
A time to weep, and I can’t seem to stop weeping, for my own family, and the mess they are in, and still for my kids who I am praying for. For the parents who have lost their sons to violence, and the parents whose sons have done the violence. Yet I can still find time to laugh, because junior high students and three year olds, and dogs and cats are just so darn funny! And of course, the God who created giraffes and penguins, and tiny spiders that scare great big mountain men, surely has a sense of humor.
A time to mourn? Just watch the news. And a time to dance, can’t seem to stop my feet from dancing. I miss dancing in our old church. Still the dance continues.
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. I think of that in a very Biblical way. The stones of remembrance, and some things that we just aren’t supposed to remember. Don’t hold on to souvenirs of times too painful to remember, or events that cause bitterness when brought to mind.
A time to embrace…I love a good hug. A time to refrain from embracing? A time I guess to give people space. To not be too clingy.
A time to get, and a time to lose; seems like I’ve been loosing a lot. Still I pray for my kids to “get it”. How I love to hear a student say – I get it!
A time to rend and a time to sew – funny LORD, I can’t even sew a button on. A time to keep silent – oh yeah, I do talk way too much for my own good. Help me to measure my words when I speak. Help me to speak words my students will understand.
When LORD Jesus is it ever time to hate? Love you first, hate the systems and deceits of the World. Love the neighbor and the enemy, hate the trap and prison that keeps them from knowing true LOVE.
A time of war, and a time of peace. Yeah, well I guess there have been righteous wars. There are sure Biblical wars, and one soon to come. War in the world, peace in our hearts. And at least, Peace in my classroom – please!
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I sure don’t do this for the money! I know the task which God has given me with which to occupy myself. And my son needs a job real bad. But it’s just work. Eternity is something else. Treasure in heaven is something else.
It’s been proven again and again, that God’s sense of timing is not the same as ours, and he does indeed have an appropriate time for all things, which is why the Word urges us to be patient.
Oh oh, look what verse I am on now.
3:11(b)
*He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Let’s move on…
I think I will cut and paste the rest from the Message…
I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it--eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
Is not having a job also a gift from God?
Are good times really what this is all about? Is good time the same as being content and the philippians’ joy?
Well maybe. Doesn’t it say everyting is just vanity? If one thinks that fulfilling the task and following the road set before them by God is having a good time…and yeah, Go for it. But see, this is one area of Scripture that is tricky. The Bible says to eat, drink, and be merry. That is not very responsible behavior. You have to look deeper.
I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.
Here’s another of the writer’s great conclusions. Whatever was, is Whatever will be, is. That's how it always is with God.
Do I hear an amen? No not yet. My prayer isn’t over yet. The day isn’t done, the chapter isn’t done. And there is so much more to the book.
I took another good look at what's going on: The very place of judgment--corrupt! The place of righteousness--corrupt! I said to myself, "God will judge righteous and wicked." There's a right time for every thing, every deed--and there's no getting around it. I said to myself regarding the human race, "God's testing the lot of us, showing us up as nothing but animals."
So is this conclusion as true as the one above it?
Humans and animals come to the same end--humans die, animals die. We all breathe the same air. So there's really no advantage in being human. None. Everything's smoke. We all end up in the same place--we all came from dust, we all end up as dust. Nobody knows for sure that the human spirit rises to heaven or that the animal spirit sinks into the earth.
Is this also true? The bible says so. Right here in Ecclesiastes 3:19-20
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.
For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place:
Is it all vanity? Is it all dust in the wind. Is the writer correct in his conclusions? Nothing better than to have a good time! Nothing else matters.
Life matters, choices matter. Love and Truth matter. Spreading the Good News and making discipels matters. Jesus is a personal Savior, who so loves us...That matters.
Pick up you cross and Follow Him! Trust and Obey.
I'm turning the pages, glancing, skimming the rest of the book. Good ol' Solomon.
So rich...so much...seek wisdom
Yeah Lord, that's what I'm doing...
God bless us, God bless them, God's blessings everyone.
I'll be back.
8 comments:
In your paragraph on a time to kill. In the Old Testament there was a time to kill. In many places the Hebrew word used refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. When the Lord told them to destroy every living thing when they entered certain areas of the land, he was destroying evil from the land. The people worshipping idols there were supposed to be given over into the Lord's hand and eradicated from the land so that the chosen people would not be corrupted by evil. It is the same way now on a spiritual level. We don't kill evil people now because Jesus has given us power in the Holy Spirit to fight against the Evil One rather than those who he has corrupted. Our fight is not against flesh and blood but against those powers of evil. This also relates to your comments regarding healing. In relation to healing whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually there often is sinful influence and/or demonic influence. The sinful influence could be related to generational bondages or it could relate to chosen sin on the part of the person or it could just be a result of our fallen nature. Demons do exist and do effect how are bodies, minds, and spirits work. Even in Christians. Yes, some people are healed and some are not, there are MANY reasons why that is true. I just hope the reasons aren't related to weak church teaching related to the power we have in Christ and his promises. He did teach us to pray "your Kingdom come, your will be done, ON EARTH as it is in heaven". Do we actually do that and expect something to occur? When we pray for healing I think many would allow the answer from God to be "no" or "later" but how many of us actually believe he might answer "yes"? I am not criticizing your comments, I have asked many of the same ones, but I am learning to ask for healings and deliverance because I don't want it to be said of me "you don't have because you don't ask".
Also I have heard it said that the words "deliver us from evil" can also be translated as "deliver us from the evil one" and to me that makes perfect sense. So I am continuing the journey to wholeness and deliverance and I am confident I will see more healings and restoration along the way.
Interesting comments Iheritor - not sure I agree with all of them, but your comments do give food for thought. Thank you for sharing.
Inheritor - Out of curiosity, how do you qualify statements from scripture by creative interpretation yet still manage to maintain absolutes on what they teach?
Given that you can translate "to kill" differently now by society, how are the rest of the teachings protected by individual interpretation?
I think I agree with the killing aspect...and especially when I am looking at a section that claims "a time to kill, a time to heal." How long is "a time" anyway?
The healing part is still a conundrum to me. And I think of Joni Erickson Tada, paralized in a diving accident, advocate for disabled people world wide. People told her that "if her faith was strong enough" Jesus would heal her. They compelled her to confess the hidden sins in her life, said she wasn't praying right (ala Job's friends). I remember seeing a charasmatic healer walk by a young woman in a wheel chair, crippled physically and mentally from birth, as if she were invisable while "healing" people of all sorts of less obvious ailments.
Although I don't necessarily disagree with Inheritor's words concerning the part sin and evil play in the lives and problems of mankind, I think that trying to explain why certain people seem to be healed while others go on suffering using these arguments can be spiritually harmful to the faith of those seeking healing for themselves or people they love.
When my dear nephew was dying of cancer many years ago, it got to the point where nothing more could be done, and I asked my sister this question:
"What is the worse thing that could happen to Nickie right now?"
Her answer was the obvious one - he could die. I said "no - there are only two options. He could be miraculously healed, and everyone would rejoice and praise the LORD, or he could die and enter into the kingdom of God, and that would be the best thing for him, although it would break all the hearts of those who love him." A few days later, my sister's last words to her sweet 2 year old boy were "It's ok Nicky, you can go to Jesus now". And he did. Thereby receiving ultimate healing!
To Maryellen: I am not saying that everyone will be healed miraculously, but I am saying that we often leave that option out when we pray. Sometimes we do have weak faith. I also agree with your last statement that death can be ultimate healing. God can certainly choose whether he grants an immediate healing or not.
Wanderer: I don't know what creative interpretation you are referring to. I was just quoting a footnote in the NLT and NRSV in regarding the total destruction of objects, and living things (they were "devoted to or for destruction"). Jesus is the one who shows that times have changed when they brought to him the woman caught in adultery. The law said she should be stoned to death. Jesus did have divine authority then to do exactly that but he sets her free. He elsewhere says to love enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Paul says that our struggles are not against flesh and blood but against the powers and pricipalities of this present darkness. These are the forces of evil which are to be driven from the "land".
"In the Old Testament there was a time to kill. In many places the Hebrew word used refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. When the Lord told them to destroy every living thing when they entered certain areas of the land, he was destroying evil from the land. The people worshipping idols there were supposed to be given over into the Lord's hand and eradicated from the land so that the chosen people would not be corrupted by evil. It is the same way now on a spiritual level. We don't kill evil people now"
A good enough chunk of your words to point to what I refer to. You state that the rules change. You even give suppositions as to why. I just want to know why, if the killing rules have changed, what else has and why?
Well, we have to remember that Jesus said he came not to invalidate the Word, but to fulfill it. In the sermon on the mount, he made some of the laws harder to keep...ie the law against adultry, and then, with dietary laws and penalties for certain "crimes" and dealing with enemies, he redefined or demonstrated new guidlines and penalties. If Jesus "seemed" to change things, that was his right, being the Word of God in the flesh. But we need to be really careful that we don't add too much, or change too much culturally unless it is so indicated in the Word. right?
I like my word verification for this one "ezeha"
Wanderer: The "time to kill" I don't believe was a "rule" as you seem to be interpreting a "rule". I said there was according to the writer of Ecclesiastes, a time to kill. A specific word from God, regarding the total destruction of objects, and living things (they were "devoted to or for destruction")which was given to the chosen people as they entered and took possession of the promised land. This is what I believe the writer of Ecclesiastes speaks of in terms of a "time" and "season". There is also a time to heal and that is the season we are currently in because of Jesus.
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