Saturday 22nd April
Read Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
“What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil – this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure for ever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.” (NIVUK)
The burden we labour under, knowing that we will never have complete knowledge despite the promise of the serpent in the garden, can render life frustrating. However the Teacher has sage advice for us. Be happy, do good, enjoy life and work hard.
It would be easy to confuse this simple message with advice to look out for oneself and pursue personal happiness as the greatest good. That is certainly the message the world endorses. It is transformed though by the final conclusion. To find satisfaction in the small things in life – a good meal and fulfilling work – is a gift of God. It is not something one needs to pursue it is something one must be willing to receive. Only then will it be satisfying. One could almost paraphrase the Teacher’s wisdom as ‘Live gratefully and be gracious, for life is a gift from God’.
But what of the burden resulting from our limited knowledge of both God and time? How can we live day-to-day if we cannot know the end from the beginning? If we can’t even begin to fathom it? Ironically, that too is a blessing and gift from God. Consider Jesus’ sage words…
“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 27 ‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’” (Matthew 11:28-30) (NIVUK)
We are granted the greatest gift ever. We are granted the privilege of knowing God through Jesus. He lifts our burden and carries it if only we are willing to receive and lay our burden down at the foot of the cross.
