For Reading and Meditation:      Ecclesiastes 3:1Solomon turns his attention to the consideration of time. Who can define time? Longfellow asked, "What is time?", and then went on to say that although time could be measured, it could not be clearly defined. One of the best definitions of discipleship I have ever heard is: "Discipleship is what a person does with his time." Imagine someone who loves you puts into your personal bank account every day the sum of ,440, with the stipulation that you have to use it all every day, and anything left over will be cancelled by the bank. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? However, Someone who loves you puts into your life every day 1,440 minutes - the gift of time. The same condition applies - you have to use it all, and anything left over is forfeited. Ask yourself: How do I manage my time? Do I squander it, or see it as a sacred trust? Solomon's point is to show how life on this earth breaks down into measurable spans. Take a look at how things happen, he seems to be saying, and you will see a controlling schedule behind all things. Does not this in itself suggest that a loving God presided over the circumstances of life? Kierkegaard said: "Life has to be lived forwards but it can only be understood backwards." Pause now for a moment and reflect on how the things you worried about a year ago look so different with hindsight. Aren't you aware that an eternal God has been marshaling your progress in this tunnel of time?O Father, help me to see the issue of time not as a burden, but as a blessing. I want to use my time wisely, but not to become so obsessed by it that I can't stop and smell the roses. Keep me sanely balanced in all this. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (v. 1)

For Reading and Meditation:      Ecclesiastes 3:2-4aPerhaps no better cross-section of life can be found anywhere than in these beautiful and poetic verses. Solomon unfolds for us the variety of life, all of which takes place under the providential hand of God. There are fourteen contrasts. (1) There is a time to be born and a time to die. No one can negotiate his or her arrival into this world, not the natural time of departure either. Both are beyond our control. (2) A time to plant and a time to uproot. Mess around with Mother Nature, and you won't get anywhere. Follow the order and you get results; ignore it and you get consequences. (3) A time to kill and a time to heal. This is not to be seen as an approval of killing, but a simple statement of fact - wars and killing are a part of human life. But so, also, is healing. Charles Swindoll puts it like this: "Life seems strangely fixed between a battlefield and a first aid station, between murder and medicine." (4) A time to tear down and a time to build. Demolition is followed by construction, then after a while more demolition and more construction. Isn't this a pattern with which every generation is familiar? (5) A time to weep and a time to laugh. Some people have more sorrow than laughter, but no one goes through the world without touching both. Are you shedding a lot of tears over some great difficulty or problem at the moment? I promise you in God's Name, sometime, not too far distant in the future, your heart will laugh again.Help me see, dear Father, that though I pass through times of sorrow and difficulty, nothing can shake the rock of existence on which I stand. In sorrow or in laughter may I never lose sight of You. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

"... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..." (v. 4)

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:2

 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years. The King James Version present on the Bible Gateway matches the 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States.

OT: Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence.
NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate.
Apocrypha: Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 KJV

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 KJV

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