A time to tear and a time to sew
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7).
The tearing of clothes was a practice in the Old Testament that was a sign of repentance. For example, it says of Ezra, “At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God” (Ezra 9:5). To repent is not merely feeling sorry for what we have done wrong; it involves doing something about it. It means: to change for the better. The physical act of tearing one’s clothes expressed the genuineness of a repentant heart. It was an expression of failure and dependence upon God’s mercy and a desire to be clothed anew in His righteousness.
Sewing is about repairing and gives the sense that what was torn was of value. I remember when I was a child watching my grandmother darning socks which had become worn. She would say there was no shame in a darned sock, only in a sock with a hole in it. We live in a “throw-away” society. Often it is not worth repairing something because it is cheaper to buy another product. Thankfully we do not yet think of fellow human beings in those terms. We naturally seek to do all we can to heal sickness and disease, and everything will be done to save a life.
The Bible also refers to spiritual healing. At the synagogue in Nazareth, at the outset of His public ministry, Jesus read,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted” (Luke 4:18, from Isaiah 61:1).
Paul highlights the importance of restoring or healing those who have made mistakes in Galatians 6:1: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” Taking time to help and restore those who need spiritual care is essential to Christian fellowship.
The writer of Ecclesiastes places “a time to keep silence” before “a time to speak.” James has a similar thought: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (James 1:19). The Lord Jesus preached and taught for three years, but during His trial He kept silent. Isaiah describes Him
… as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7).
At times, the wisest course of action is to remain silent. Often our words can add fuel to the fire. Throughout history, men have used the power of speech to inflame peoples’ passions and persuaded them to follow a path that caused the world great harm. The tongue, as James reminds us, is a small part of the body but capable of doing untold damage.
On the other hand, there are times when we need to speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and we must speak. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). When a friend, at some personal cost, speaks to us in love to point out things which may be painful, but are right, we need the grace to accept what is said. In doing so, it is extraordinary to discover that God uses such “wounds” to bring about the blessing of spiritual healing.
