The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Category: Lent

March 8, 2014

Lent Devotional: Ecclesiastes 4

Ecclesiastes 4 (click here)
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)

Reflection
An honest assessment of the world we live in doesn’t give Solomon any hope of finding meaning. On the contrary, things seem more senseless than ever. The world is filled with evil and oppression…so much so that for many people he thinks it would have been better had they never been born. Even he, with all his riches and wisdom, is not powerful enough to permanently stem the tide of injustice.

Solomon recognizes that even the good done by one generation will be undone by the next. History teaches us that we are prone to repeat our follies. So again he cries out…all is vanity! Is there any hope for a world so full of injustice and senseless pain? Is there one who is both powerful enough and possessing the right resources to rid the world of injustice and fill it with righteousness?

If someone like that exists…they cannot be found “under the sun” where we see so many evil deeds. If someone who can save us exists, they will have to come to us…that would take extreme love. Is there anyone out there who loves us that much?

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 7, 2014

Lent Devotional: Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3 (click here)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-14)

Reflection
Time marches on…and we are caught on the treadmill of life. One season gives way to another. There is no slowing down, no going back, and no knowing what is coming in the future. Time makes us realize how much we are NOT in control.

Yet, we know there is one who is in control…for he has placed eternity in our hearts. Within us, there is a built-in sense that our lives must be part of a larger picture. We long to make sense of everything we experience precisely because our instincts tell us everything is supposed to make sense. Time is not so random as it seems when we experience it…no…there is a pattern, but it is too large for us to see the whole.

God alone sees time from beginning to end. We know something of eternity…something of his larger purposes, but we cannot see the whole as he can. So what are we to do? Trust. We trust the one who is over time and who sees the whole picture. As each seemingly random event comes our way, we find joy in the fact that God has given us each moment (even the difficult ones) as a gift. He has graciously included us as a part of his eternal purposes. His work will endure forever…and he has made us a part of that. So we live trusting him…we live by faith.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 6, 2014

Lent Devotional: Ecclesiastes 2

Ecclesiastes 2
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:15-17)

Reflection
I…I…I…my…my…my… this is the mantra of Solomon and all too often it is the theme of my own life. You can almost hear the yearning of Solomon’s soul as he continues to seek satisfaction for himself, but perhaps satisfaction cannot be found when we are so self focused. As long as “I, I, I and my, my, my” remain the center of all we do it seems pretty clear that all will be vanity and chasing after the wind. For, no matter what we achieve, death will take it all away.

Solomon recognizes that everyone’s life (the wise or foolish, rich or poor, etc) ends the same way…death. All he does, all he accomplishes, will be gone in a moment. Death renders all his striving pointless…vain. So why try to achieve anything. What’s the point?

Maybe, just maybe, the meaning and purpose Solomon seeks can only be found outside himself. Perhaps we are not supposed to be the center of our own universe. Could there be something or SOMEONE around which our lives were designed to center…one who can even conquer death and fill our lives with meaning and satisfaction?

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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