Ecclesiastes Three cont... tearing down and building up.

3    “A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”

"A time to kill, and a time to heal..." There is indeed a time to kill (the old man Rom 6:6) and to heal (our wrong ways Hosea 14:4) in each of our lives; "... a time to break down, and a time to build up;" This reminds us very much of Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” and Jeremiah 31:28. “And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD”. These verses list the various stages of the restoration process which were to occur in the nation of Israel. God had anointed the prophet and had given him authority to deal with sin in the nation. They had fallen by their iniquities and were not walking in His ways. These stages can be broken up into two categories; the first one is the tearing down of the existing form (which is contrary to God) and the building up a new one (that God approves of)

4    “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

The problem with the world system is that their core values cause this process to be 180 degrees out of alignment from Gods, let me explain. The world weeps and morns when their worldly possessions are taken from them but they do not weep and mourn over a sinful character. God wants us to take no thought for temporal needs but to pay a great deal of time focusing on our character. And it is like this completely across the board. If one were to compile a list starting with the things God cares about the most at the top and descending to the things He cares very little about at the bottom then compared it to the same list for man you would find practically nothing agreed upon in the columns. This statement about the difference in mans values vs. Gods is actually very scriptural (See Isa 55:8-9; Isa 65:2). Before one is born again they belong to the prince of this world and this is what is said of him Matt 16:23 "Thou savourest not the things of God..."