Opportunity; Opportuneness; Ordination
W. Clarkson Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:… This view of life embraces - I. OPPORTUNITY, OR THE WISDOM OF WAITING. Everything comes in its turn; if we weep today, we shall laugh to-morrow; if we have to be silent for the present, we shall have the opportunity of speech further on; if we must strive now, the time of peace will return. Human life is neither unshadowed brightness nor unbroken gloom. "Shadow and shine is life... flower and thorn." Let no man be seriously discouraged, much less hopelessly disheartened: what he is now suffering from will not always remain; it will pass and give place to that which is better. Let us only patiently wait our time, and our turn will come. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" - at any rate, and at the furthest,. In the morning of eternity. Only let us wait in patience and in prayerful hope, doing all that we can do in the paths of duty and of service, and the hour of opportunity will arrive... with succeeding turns God tempers all, That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall." II. OPPORTUNENESS. The words of the text may suggest to us, though the thought may not have been in the writer's mind, that some things are good or otherwise according to their timeliness. There is a time to speak in the way of rebuking, or of jesting, or of contending, and, when well-timed, such words may be right and wise in a very high degree; but, if ill-timed, they would be wrong and foolish, and much to be condemned. The same thought is applicable to the demonstration of friendliness, or of any strong emotion (vers. 5, 7); to the exercise of severity or of leniency (ver. 3); to the manifestation of sorrow or of joy (ver. 4); to the action of economy or of generosity (ver. 6). Hard-and-fast rules will not cover the infinite particulars of human life. Whether we shall act or be passive, whether we shall speak or be silent, what shall be our demeanor and what the tone we shall take, - this must depend upon particular circumstances and a number of new combinations; and every man must judge for himself, and must remember that there is great virtue in opportuneness. III. ORDINATION. There is a season, an "appointed time for every undertaking" (Cox). "What profit hath he that worketh," when all this" travail" with which "the sons of men" are exercised results in such fixed and inevitable changes? That is the spirit of the moralist here. We reply: 1. That it is indeed true that much is already appointed for us. We have no power, or but little, over the seasons and the elements of nature, and not very much (individually) over the institutions and customs of the land in which we live; we are compelled to conform our behavior to forces which are superior to our own. 2. But there is a very large remainder of freedom. Within the lines that are laid down by the ordination of Heaven or the "powers that be" on the earth, there is ample scope for free, wise, life-giving choice of action. We are free to choose our own conduct, to form our own character, to determine the complexion and aspect of our life in the sight of God, to decide upon our destiny. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: WEB: For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: