By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

The sentiment of the writer of  Ecclesiastes may sound familiar:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

The writer then begins to list all sorts of opposites to pose his point–a time to live, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to uproot.

Most of these make sense. But, there is one that has always perplexed me.

“A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them” (Ecclesiastes 3:5). Is there really a season in which it’s best to scatter stones as opposed to gathering them?

I certainly have never looked at my watch and sighed, “Well, it looks like it’s about time to scatter some stones.” But, maybe I should start.

It seems like such an odd line to add. It even seems to confuse some biblical commentators. But I quickly realized that it may not be so crazy after all. Maybe there really is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them.

There’s a time to scatter stones. To break down the wall. The wall that keeps you from witnessing. The stigma that keeps you from connecting. The prejudice that blinds you from the truth. The lies that Satan has placed in your path. The anxiety that constricts your chest. The stress that fills your life.

Each one is a stone that needs to be thrown, a rock that needs to be crushed. Maybe it’s time to scatter those stones. Break them up. Tear them down.

But there’s also a time to gather stones. To bring them together. To make something out of them.

There’s a time to build an altar, to kneel at it and approach His throne room. It may be time to construct a monument to His faithfulness–a stone that testifies to answered prayer and experienced grace.

Maybe it’s time to build someone else up. Their wall may be falling apart and run over with ivy. It’s time for you to gather stones, and help them rebuild. Or maybe it’s your life that has collapsed, and God is telling you to go out of your comfort zone to find the first stone.

We all have different stones and different stories. Some stones appear in different seasons. Other stones may be thrown from different people. Many times, you don’t have control over the stones that enter your life–whether good or bad. But, you always have control over what you do with your stones.

What time is it?

Is it time to scatter stones, or a time to gather them up? To build or destroy? To construct or tear down.

May God give us the wisdom to know the difference.