Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

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.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 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.

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Being a prayer warrior is tough, but we are all told to rejoice always and pray continually.

James tells us to count it Joy when we face trials.  I don’t know about you, but I need a little “moaning” time.

But thinking about “time,” Solomon made a lot of comparisons, mostly extreme opposites, but Solomon gave equal value, if you will, to both extremes.  He did not become an extremist.

Of the 14 comparisons, the first two are beginning / ending type times.  Each of us is born and each will die.  As for a farmer planting seed or small plants, there is a planting season and a harvest season.  In each the farmer prays.  The farmer needs rain, but rain too early makes the ground too soggy to plant.  Too much rain right after planting shoves the seed into the river and the crop is lost.  I have had neighbors who cut the crop to make hay, and then worked past midnight as the rain came unexpectedly.  Rotting hay is bad for the livestock.  But those are just requests.  Planting at the proper time and then getting a light moderate rain to kickstart the crop is reason for thanksgiving and praise.

Thanksgiving is directly showing gratitude, but it also acknowledges God’s sovereignty.  We glorify God in the good times and the bad times.  We acknowledge God’s sovereignty in good times and bad times.  And while we might ask ‘why?’, we rejoice in our suffering in that God is sending us a message.  I heard someone say recently that the bad thing that happened to them was for a purpose.  The news reporter asked them what that purpose was.  Their reply was that they did not know, but in the long run, the bad thing will become a lesson learned that will make them stronger.

In other words, take each of the 28 conditions (14 comparisons) and say (for example), in times of weeping, pray; in times of laughing, pray; in times of mourning, pray; and in times of dancing, pray.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.