The main point of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven” (verse 1). Whatever the situation is (past, present, or future), when we put our trust in The Creator of the universe, He will carefully direct our lives. Every aspect of our daily lives (Matthew 10:30) right down to the timing of those experiences will be overruled for the good of our development.

Ecclesiastes 3:3 discusses specific life experiences: “A time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up.”

In the Old Testament, God, Himself, sanctioned or ended human lives.  Recall the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 13:10, 13 explain that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly wicked in the Lord’s eyes. So, God destroyed those places and the people who inhabited them.

There were also biblical instances where the end of human life was sanctioned with a seeming avoidance of justice by our Lord.  In Job chapter 1, God permitted Satan to kill Job’s sons and daughters for what seems to be nothing more than a test to Job. If our focus is only on the fact that the Lord allowed such a tragic thing to happen to such a good family then it would be easy to conclude that God is cold, unjust, mean and reckless.  However, there is a reason for everything God does and/or permits others to do.  

For us, it is impossible to know every reason that a perfect and limitless God has for doing what He does. His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9), and we don’t see all things clearly (1 Corinthians 13:12). But God still invites us to reason with him.  Isaiah 1:18, “Come, let us reason together, declares the Lord.”  Along with that invitation, God gives us some incredible promises, and that’s where His time for healing comes in.

In Revelation 21:4 God promises to “…wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain……

We haven’t seen this in our time. However God’s ultimate time for healing the whole world will come.  All the dead will be resurrected, including those who died at Sodom and Gomorrah, Job’s children, and every single man, woman and child.

In Romans 8:28, the Apostle Paul tells us God “… will work out everything to the good of those who love him.”…All in His time.