Turn, turn, turn/Stop! Hammer Time
Part of Upside Down—Ecclesiastes
September 22, 2019

Upside Down: Ecclesiastes

Life is NOT meant to be lived in denial!

Chapter 1: Solomon gives us a generic and natural overview of what will NOT and what will give meaning to life. The sun rises and sets, the seas rise and fall, the winds come and go. Life has a frustrating rhythm to it and in the end nothing is gained. The world is not bigger or better; it just is. And in the same way, when we treat life as a means to gain we really lose, but when we see life as a gift from God then we can get the most out of it in the way it was always intended to be.

Chapter 2: Solomon gets more specific- wisdom, pleasure, purpose, education- won’t these things fulfill me? And he goes through and dismantles that thought process. Again, not to create negativity in us towards life but to help us to live in the real world. Pursuit, be it noble or not, cannot fulfill you. People, possessions and circumstances are not meant to be leveraged for your gain they are meant to be enjoyed in the moment.

1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. —Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,
13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
14 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.
15 That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.
16 Moreover I saw under the sun: In the place of judgment, Wickedness was there; And in the place of righteousness, Iniquity was there.
17 I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
18 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.”
19 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.
20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
22 So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him? —Ecclesiastes 3:9-22

A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. —Isaiah 42:3