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By: Pastor Schlicht

I’ve heard that time goes by faster as one gets older. While I know it’s not true scientifically, it certainly seems true in my experience. I feel like I just got used to writing 2022 and here we are in September. Why are my kids so big? What happened to the summer? Where did the time go?

The book of Ecclesiastes contains a famous section on time, often called “The Catalogue of Times”, written by King Solomon. These eight verses in chapter 3 not only talk about time but portray our perception of time in the present:

For everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven:

a time to give birth and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to uproot;

a time to kill and a time to heal;

a time to tear down and a time to build;

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

a time to search and a time to count as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to be silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

                                                                                                   -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The exquisite structure of the poem is framed around the compact, rhythmic repetition of time. Each of the lines contains the word twice. (In the original Hebrew, “time” makes up 28 of the 60 words!) The pattern of contrasting events is closely tied together by the relentless repetition of time which mimics the human perception of time’s relentless pace. The compactness of the poem also gives “time” a demanding, urgent character. As an activity takes place, “time” is there to begin again, another activity and it is “time” again.

“The Catalog of Times” is also relatable because the “times” included are both things that are in and out of human control. While we can control when to speak and when to keep silent, who can choose when to be born or when to die? Who can decide when to lose something? At one moment we may laugh, at another weep, but unless these emotions are fake humans do not control these events.  So while there is a time for everything, it does not stop for anyone and is not controlled by those whom it affects.

Isn’t this how time feels to us too? Time rolls on ruthlessly whether we want it to or not. Time takes away, but it does not always give. From our limited, linear perspective, human time is a precious yet devastating part of life—a facet of our existence that reminds us ultimately that we are not in control.

But there is comfort in knowing that our Lord is in control of time. Solomon chose to compose this poem in seven lines, a pointed choice because of the number’s connection to the divine and perfection. The neat structure of the poem is also an effective rhetorical tool that heightens the concept of God’s providence. Although things may seem erratic from a human standpoint, the poem’s overall composition insinuates a God who maintains perfect control of time in every human experience. What blessing we have in knowing the God who controls time—the God who is outside of time yet entered into time for our sake—is the very God who laid down his life so that we might have eternal life. Where did the time go? I don’t know, but God does. May your restlessness be put to rest in this:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.” -Ecclesiastes 3:11-14