a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
We live in a wheel of nature where one spoke is uppermost, then another; constant ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning. Every change concerning us is fixed by a supreme power, and we cannot alter what is appointed. So in prosperity, be easy yet not secure, humble and even-minded, neither lifted up with hopes nor cast down with fears.
AI summary
Commenting on Ecclesiastes 3:1-10
A time to be born,.... The Targum is, "to beget sons and daughters;'' but rather it is to bear them, there being a time in nature fixed for that, called the hour of a woman, Job 14:1; and a time to die; the time of a man's coming into the world and going out of it, both being fixed by the Lord (f): this is...
time to die-- (Psa 31:15; Heb 9:27). plant--A man can no more reverse the times and order of "planting," and of "digging up," and transplanting, than he can alter the times fixed for his "birth" and "death." To try to "plant" out of season is vanity, however good in season; so to make earthly things the chief end is vanity, however good they be in order and season.