Leviticus 24; Psalm 31; Ecclesiastes 7; 2 Timothy 3
This pandemic and personal isolation is having a wide
range of effects on people. Some are enjoying it as a ‘staycation’ while others
are ‘losing their minds’ in extreme impatience for ‘normal’ life to return. For
them, not being able to do whatever they want to do is an extreme hardship.
Some even say this is like being in jail. At least one person said it was like
being in a concentration camp.
I’m not sure what others are experiencing. For me, this is
more like God pushed a reset button and sent me back into another era where
people were not so busy and had time to play with their children, read books,
and relax with a jigsaw puzzle. I know some are terribly anxious about running
out of money (and toilet paper) and others are missing human contact and hugs
to the point of being deeply agitated. Certainly our reactions expose our value
systems!
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon recommends that people reflect on
brevity of life and its meaning. He said a house of mourning should be
preferred to a house of feasting meaning that sober reflection should be
preferred to levity and that sorrow is better than laughter. His point is that sober
reflection can lead to moral improvement and a changed life.
His words are similar to what Moses wrote: “So teach us to number our days that we may
get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Our society has long valued a
self-centered hedonism and this ‘reset button’ puts me into a place where I can
more easily consider what are the most important things in life. Solomon’s
advice is sharp:
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. (Ecclesiastes 7:8–10)
These days, just as in Solomon’s days, the temptation is
to become impatient, angry, complaining and longing for the ‘good old days’ or
at least ‘normal’ whatever that might mean. Some may even be proud that they
are handling this isolation rather well, yet both extremes are contrary to
Solomon’s reasoning. He says:
Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
Considering what is happening,
and in light of my strong belief in God’s sovereignty, I tend to welcome the
reset button. God is calling me, and maybe the entire human race, to think more
deeply about life, why I am here and about His control of things over my human
efforts to control things.
My commentary says that even though people might find
fault with what God has done, no one can change what He thinks is wrong or
unfair. No one can straighten what He says is crooked. Besides that, He combines
adversity and prosperity so we cannot discern the future. Far better to submit
to and trust His sovereignty. That is, enjoy the good times and remember in the
bad times that God has inscrutable purposes beyond finite human understanding.
As Solomon said, no one is wise enough to understand God’s scheme of things.
His purposes are “far off and deep, very deep” yet the struggles we have are
not because God is doing what He does. That responsibility is our own:
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:29)
In trying to have life the way I want it, my scheming
results in ‘going off the rails’ into a perversion of the life that God
intended for me. He pressed that reset button for good reason.
APPLY: I’ve begun to ask myself each day about the stuff
on my to-do list. Does it matter? Will it last? Has it any eternal value? Will
it help others? Will it glorify the Lord? This is not an excuse to fail to
clean the bathroom or keep my home in order but taking to heart the wisdom God
gave Solomon and Moses. I’ve supposed that no one wants to waste their life but
now am not sure that is true. It so easily happens, even to those of us who try
so hard to not waste anything.
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