Life From God's Perspective

We are often destitute of the things that life demands,
We want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands;
We are trusting in the Lord, and according to God's Word,
We will understand it better by and by.

Charles Tindley

Read

Today let's look at Ecclesiastes 4:1-6. This "under the sun" section is divided into 2 paragraphs, and they don't seem to have much in common. Read it a second, or even a third time, thinking about what in the world they have to do with each other.

Think

Solomon takes us to more evil under the sun. More things to confuse us, to make us wonder about whether or not God knows what He's doing, if He even exists. First, we have oppression. Powerful people oppress the weak and poor. It's a fact of life. Second, the workplace is full of both over-competitive and lazy people. The bosses relentlessly fight their way to the top, and the lazy people do just enough to live.

But then there are those people who live above it all.

In the midst of oppression, though it seems it would be better to never have been born, there are always those people who seem to be unaffected and unwavering in the face of their oppressors. In the workplace, there are those who don't seem to be concerned with getting ahead, yet they are productive, not just getting by.

The common thread?

If our mindset is under the sun, we will never be able to reconcile the oppression of the poor with the idea of a good and just God. If our mindset is under the sun, we will either be consumed with getting ahead at work, or we will do just enough to get by. Living life in God's perspective, though, allows us to know that oppression happens, but God is the ultimate judge. Living life in God's perspective allows us to realize that there are more important things in life than that next promotion or raise, and at the same time gives us purpose and meaning in our work.

Help us indeed to be content, Lord, in the pleasant valley between too much and too little; between slavery and sloth; between overcompeting and underperforming. There, in that valley where heaven meets earth, we can walk with our hand in Yours rather than grasping at the wind.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Cycles of Nature

A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow , There they flow again.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-7

As if we're not depressed enough, Solomon moves from how empty life is to how nothing ever changes, and nothing is really permanent. Using a masterful (and ahead of his time) understanding of nature's cycles, we are made to realize that, whether we are here or not, the world keeps moving along in its daily, monthly, and yearly routines. What real, lasting impact do we really have on this stuff?

The answer: None.

It's important to recognize the perspective of the writer. He uses the phrase in verse three that he will repeat 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes--under the sun. If all we have to consider is the natural world, with its unbroken cycles and our infinitesimal existence in the grand scheme of things, our very existence is empty and meaningless.

To be sure, not an encouraging outlook. But remember, Solomon's pessimism comes from his disconnect with God. When we see only what is under the sun and never what is behind it, we are left with that empty, churning cosmic machine, a great production line running to eternity and producing exactly nothing.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

You and I both know that if there is nothing to look forward to, nothing out there, outside of the natural order, that will somehow validate and give hope to our otherwise hopeless existence, then the only thing left to do is die and be forgotten. But there is good news!

We all feel it. We all have an enduring sense that the universe got it wrong, that things are exactly the reverse of what they should be. Shouldn't the ignorant machine of nature be temporary, and we be permanent? W just know this somehow; as Solomon will soon tell us, we have eternity set in our hearts. We refuse to see ourselves as temporal creatures. We're made for everlasting life, and the clock we live on should run down while we go on forever.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

There is light above the fog of our naturalist, under the sun understanding that gives us hope. It gives our lives meaning. And nothing frees us to live our lives well than to lift our heads out of the fog to see the eternity that has been written in our hearts.