(Ecc. 3:1-22) Man has his appointed cycle of seasons and vicissitudes, as the sun, wind, and water (Ecc 1:5-7). purpose--as there is a fixed "season" in God's "purposes" (for example, He has fixed the "time" when man is "to be born," and "to die," Ecc 3:2), so there is a lawful "time" for man to carry out his "purposes" and inclinations. God does not condemn, but approves of, the use of earthly blessings (Ecc 3:12); it is the abuse that He condemns, the making them the chief end (Co1 7:31). The earth, without human desires, love, taste, joy, sorrow, would be a dreary waste, without water; but, on the other hand, the misplacing and excess of them, as of a flood, need control. Reason and revelation are given to control them.