By Rich DuBose
Back in the 60’s a song by Pete Seeger titled, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” was undoubtedly inspired by Ecclesiastes 3:1-3,
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born 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 scatter stones and a time to. gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
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.
Is this to be taken as heaven’s intended rhythm for humanity? Is everything that happens supposed to have a corresponding inverse effect? Or, is it a description of the reality we experience on this broken planet? Currently, there’s a time to be born and a time to die. A time to build up and a time to tear down. A time to love, and a time to hate. A time to mourn and a time to dance? But this does mean that it will always be this way?
In the beginning after God created the earth, he didn’t say “there’s a time to create and a time to destroy.” We have every reason to believe that God intended the beauties of the earth to remain and to be expanded upon throughout eternity. But there were forces at work that were bent on bringing injury and destruction to God’s works.
In Ecclesiastes 3 Solomon uses poetic imagery to describe earth’s rhythm in the aftermath of sin. We live and we die. We are silent and we speak. We fight and make peace. We search and give up searching. The actions involved bear the marks of both good and evil. In an uncanny way Ecclesiastes 3 describes the agitation that exists between good and evil. The cycles of failure and success, war and peace, sin and forgiveness were never intended to be routine occurrences in God’s creation. In his parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus explained how evil came to be.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared” (Matthew 13:24-26, NIV). One day the weeds will be separated from the wheat —which comes with the promise of an earth made new. However, until that time the weeds and the wheat occupy the same soil, which makes it difficult for either to thrive.
In the parable, the farmer’s servants asked, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?” The sower replied, “An enemy did this.” The servants then asked, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” “No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn” (Matthew 13:27-29, NIV).
Every effort by Christians to rid the world of evil and to sanitize culture is in direct opposition to what God wants them to do. Instead of “pulling weeds” Jesus wants his followers to “let both grow together” and to bring good to life whenever and wherever they can. The problem with “pulling weeds” is that we can’t always tell which is wheat and which is weeds, and the roots of the wheat are so interconnected with the roots of the weeds that we risk destroying everything when we try to remedy the problem.
The Fight Isn’t Where We Think It Is
The war motif has been popular with Christians for centuries, especially during times of national war. Remember the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, a 19-century English hymn? Who doesn’t want to defeat the enemy and put evil in its place? Yet Scripture makes it clear that the fight we’re in does not call for physical force or coercive measures. Paul says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NLT).
Contrary to popular opinion, we cannot fight the devil and win. His mouth full of mud-slinging lies and insinuations is too cunning and deceptive for us to overcome. To engage with the devil is put ourselves on a slippery slope that always ends in defeat. The only way we can resist the devil is to align ourselves with Jesus and ask him to fight for us.
Shortly before his death Jesus warned Peter and his fellow disciples that the devil was out to get them.
“Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has demanded permission to sift [all of] you like grain; but I have prayed [especially] for you [Peter], that your faith [and confidence in Me] may not fail; and you, once you have turned back again [to Me], strengthen and support your brothers [in the faith].” And Peter said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I say to you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will [utterly] deny three times that you know Me” ( (Luke 22:31-34, AMP).
Peter still didn’t get it, and a short time later when the temple priests, Judas, and a band of Roman’s soldiers came to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane, Peter tried to fight them in his own way. “Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?’” (John 18:10-11 NLT).
It must have seemed redundant for Jesus to have to keep telling Peter that the nature of the fight they were in wasn’t physical. This time he simply said, “Peter, put your sword away. The seeming defeat that I’m about to experience is the only way I can defeat the evil one.” And thank God, he did.
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4, NLT).
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California. Photograph by Molochszczecin, with Pixabay.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Lockman.org
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®