Ever since I watched the funeral service for His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, on Saturday, I have been thinking about the Book of Ecclesiastes. The First reading in the service came from that book. So I delved in!
Chapter 1
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Honestly, has the author said anything that could not be applied to today? Life is troublesome! I could name at least five things that are bothersome and wearisome. “All things are wearisome, more than one can say.” I am tired of the news headlines. Another mass shooting, another black person shot by the police, another racist confrontation, Covid 19, illness, death of a loved one and the list can go on and on!
The author is lamenting and so am I. And I know I am not alone. I remember a few years back when there just seemed to be nothing happening. I went to work, came back home, made dinner, went to bed and started the next day all over again. Life was good! No undue outside stressors! Probably dealing with the occasional argument with my husband and a hot-headed teenage boy. Life was good or so it seemed. What on earth happened? How did we get to this point? And yet the author states, “there is nothing new under the sun!”
How do we live a meaningful life amid the harsh reality of life? Because we are still called upon to put one foot in the front of the other, despite the heaviness of our hearts. We create the atmosphere under which we want to live regardless of what is taking place. God has put it in us, to carry on. Is it ever an easy thing to do? No! But God also does not leave us alone either. Proverbs 18: 14 tells us, “A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness….The name of the Lord is a strong tower.”
So some days the heaviest of life will come and some days the beauty of the day assails your soul. But know that Jesus is in it. He takes us each by the hand and walks us along the path. While the author of Ecclesiastes speaks truth; it is the way in which we approach life that will make the difference. My friends turn your face towards the brilliant morning rays of the sun and the Son. Rise up and meet the day with all the vigor you can muster and say Good Morning Jesus, make me ready for whatever this day may bring! Lead me, guide me
Enjoy Elvis’ rendition of Lead me, Guide me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_4rcSDZWs
The race is not to the swift
Or the battle to the strong. Ecc 11:11
But to those who will endure