Photo of the Week: September 6 2017

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

Grazing land in Northern New Mexico

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The End of the Matter

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:14

I thought that I would cover the end of the matter from two points of view; first from Solomon’s and then from the view of a Christian. Since this is fairly obvious, I hope that you’ll read the passage, and then come back for a few reflections on it.

As I think about what the Teacher has taught us in Ecclesiastes, it occurs to me that the great majority of Americans today are too young to remember the day that President Kennedy was killed; but I remember it vividly. Most of us are too young to remember when Dr. King told us of his dream; but I was transfixed by it. Most of us are too young to have known a time when parents would have their children walk a mile or more to school every day in safety, but from the 1st grade forward I walked more than a mile down a busy city street to school, along with all of the other kids, and nobody had cause to worry. Likewise, I would imagine that most Englishmen alive today are too young to remember when their Queen was young.

All of us who have these memories can tell the young that in the blink of an eye, your youth will be gone, as will we be.

Enjoy your brief youth; make good use of your time while you can. You are free to do what you desire; who knows? Perhaps you will live in a palace one day! But remember this: Naked you came into this world, and naked you will leave it. All of the wealth you manage to acquire will mean nothing in the end. All of your fun and thrills will get you nowhere, for in the end you, like the rest of us will become old and die. And then…?

Judgment.

Enjoy this life as best you can, but remember God and keep His commands, for this life only lasts so long, and you have a date with destiny.

Essentially, this is Solomon’s point in this whole book. Yet as wise as this is, much has changed since his time; let’s discuss briefly  what those changes mean for us.

 

Reflecting upon the end of the matter as Solomon stated it, life under the sun now is about what it was at the time Solomon wrote his book: Meaningless! When our time on earth is completed, we will die and be forgotten by those who come after us; a chasing of the wind.

Even so, something has changed since Solomon lived and wrote: Messiah came and accomplished His work. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we have the option of forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life, things that the old Law did not provide. This is all obvious to a Christian, but what about our lives under the sun; can we possibly find meaning that the Teacher couldn’t find even with his great wisdom?

Yes, there is very certainly meaning in this life under the sun that was not available to Solomon, because something else changed as a result of Messiah’s work on that cross, the re-establishment of fellowship. “Fellowship” is usually not a term associated with salvation, but for the life of me, I don’t see why. Fellowship was God’s purpose for creating Mankind in the first place, and we see it clearly in the old Genesis story. Recall that while Adam and Eve were running around the garden naked together, they had direct personal access to God; they literally spoke together. There was nothing in between them and God, either literally or figuratively, and they had relationship with Him. God gave them dominion over the earth, creating what we might call a sort of partnership in which they served God’s purpose as stewards of His Creation on earth. Thus, they had relationship and purpose in common with God, and relationship + purpose is what the word “fellowship” means. When Jesus completed His work on earth, the relationship was restored through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and once again, Mankind can have direct, unfettered access to God with nothing standing between them, either literally or figuratively.

After Jesus arose from the grave He gave a command, His last, which is found in Matthew 28:18-20 that we should make disciples, and in doing so, He gave us His purpose, for that was why He came to earth in the first place. Thus, in Christ, we have relationship and purpose: Fellowship. To the extent that we serve His purpose, we live meaningful lives, even while we are “under the sun.” Even better, we have the hope of eternity with Him; therefore as Christians, who follow Jesus Christ in this life, life need not be entirely a matter of chasing the wind.

This little equation brings us to one other consideration. We know what parts of this life are meaningless and which part of this life is meaningful: How will we spend our remaining time here under the sun? Will we chase the wind, or will we serve His purpose?

Ah yes, dear reader, that challenge is what makes this adventure a most excellent one!

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Really… We Really Don’t know

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Don Merritt

In the last passage, we saw that evil can come upon us at any time; that’s just the way it is. In this section, we will see that good can come upon us as well, and that we must not be so cautious about the potential of evil that we miss out on the good. This discussion begins with verse 3 of chapter 11 in which the laws of nature are used to illustrate the potential for bad times:

If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.

Who knows exactly what will happen – who knows just where there will be rain, floods, blizzards or danger? Nobody, that’s why we are being bombarded with warnings. This is the message of verse 3; you just never know what might happen. The next verse, verse 4 tells of our possible response:

Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

I remember a couple of years ago when a major winter storm was moving into the Washington, D.C. area; on the news they were listing (over and over) all of the closings and “late starts” for the incoming storm. Amazingly, the Federal government was open for business that day, and I must admit that I was a bit surprised, since they normally surprise me by how quickly they shut it down. Since the government wasn’t closed that day, I predicted that it would be a real major storm; they almost always guess wrong!

…Which is exactly the point that the Teacher is making. Using an agricultural metaphor, he is saying here that if you are always looking at the clouds and the wind, you’ll never get your fields planted, or to put it another way, if you are always looking for danger, than you can always find a reason not to try.

As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things. (11:5)

This transitional verse is where the tide changes: None of us knows the workings of God, so we can’t easily predict what will come next. Even with advanced weather models and satellite tracking of storms, they don’t always get the forecasts right. How can any of us think we can predict the future?

Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well. (11:6)

The conclusion is simply that we should get out there and give it our all in this life, and not worry about the storm clouds that come along, for who can say what will bring good and what will bring evil into our lives; do your best always.

With this Solomon brings this second section of Ecclesiastes to its close. Next time, our adventure will reach the third and final section of the book: The conclusion of the matter.

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Making Friends and Influencing People

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 10:16-11:2

In this section, the Teacher continues with his elaboration of life’s uncertainties under the sun. Here, it would appear that he is talking about those who rule the nation; not all rulers are wise! The first verse in the text sets this out, and the (new) NIV gives us a bit of confusion right off the bat:

Woe to the land whose king was a servant[a]
    and whose princes feast in the morning. (10:16)

To be fair, I left the footnote in place; it says “or king is a child”. The Hebrew word in question is na’ar which can be rendered as a boy, a lad or a servant. I don’t know this for sure, but my guess is that the newer translators went with servant because “boy” and “lad” are male, and “servant” can be either male or female. This would avoid offending the contemporary politically correct person, but in my view would lack historical accuracy, since boys or lads could be heirs to thrones, and young women or girls could only do so in rare and extreme circumstances. In certain cases, this Hebrew word can also be taken to be a child, so I’ll agree to a compromise; child it is! If you insist on “servant” here, it will still work in one sense; both a child and a servant are people who are not ready for leadership in so high a position as king, in which case they are vulnerable to manipulation by their advisors, and this was (and is) often the case. Now couple that with “princes who feast in the morning” and you have an immature king under the thumb of advisors who are the ancient equivalent of playboys, and you can see that things will not go well in the land. I’m thinking that some might see this kind of thing happening still in our time when someone comes into power who isn’t really ready for it, surrounded by people who don’t know how things actually work in the real world; it can be messy. Verse 17 is the contrast to 16, where the king is qualified, trained and ready to reign, and his nobles were sober and wise.

Verses 18-19 are a further elaboration of the circumstances referred to in verse 16, the result of that crisis of unwise leadership:

Through laziness, the rafters sag;
    because of idle hands, the house leaks.

A feast is made for laughter,
    wine makes life merry,
    and money is the answer for everything.

Oh my, how did the Teacher phrase it? “There’s nothing new under the sun”!

Verse 20 provides us with a caution for such times, when an honest and hardworking person might be tempted to become frustrated or resentful about the way things are going:

Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,
    or curse the rich in your bedroom,
because a bird in the sky may carry your words,
    and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Yes indeed, and a childish ruler is a vengeful ruler…

This brings us to the final two verses of our text, and to be perfectly honest with you, these two innocent little verses have led me to more research than I intended to sign up for when I started blogging about Ecclesiastes. The reason is that the new NIV interprets these verses, and the rest of the chapter in a way I hadn’t encountered before. The thing is, translators aren’t supposed to interpret, and yet they must interpret, and anyone who has studied a foreign language in any great depth will understand this, for in any language I’m familiar with, there will be times when you can understand something in more than one way. In this case, we can take these verses as being a reference to business and commerce, or as a reference to benevolence. The way the new version of NIV takes it, Solomon is telling us to diversify our holdings in tough times, to engage in international business, with kingdoms that don’t have incompetent leadership ruining their economies, and that makes sense.

I tend, however, to take a historical – critical approach to texts like these and that keeps bringing me back to the fact that the real author of this text is the reigning King of Israel, and I’m having some trouble with this advice being understood this way, coming from an incumbent. Particularly in a kingdom that views everyone else as filthy dogs!  In addition, Solomon has given counsel in the Proverbs more like the benevolent understanding of such things, and of course I ask myself why he would suddenly be giving advice to only a few of his readers, when up until now, he has said things that could apply just as well to the poor majority as to the rich minority. Thus, to make a long story short, here’s how I see this; you are welcome to see it differently, as always…

Ship your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. (11:1-2 new NIV)

###

Cast your bread upon the waters,

For after many days you will find it again.

Give portions to seven, yes to eight,

For you do not know what disaster will come upon the land. (11:1-2 old NIV)

 

I think he is telling us that we should always practice benevolent acts, to help others out, and thus to make many friends, or as Benjamin Franklin said, that we should “do well by doing good”. Thus, when hard times come, we don’t have to stand alone; there will be those who are happy to help us as we have helped them.

The main principle will work in either interpretation, for in the commerce model, you will have friends in other lands should you need them, but in the meantime, you should still be profitable in your own land when the economy turns south, which seems to me to be the disaster the Teacher is talking about here, based up his remark in verse 19.

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Nobody Knows

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:15

In this section, the Teacher develops the idea that none of us knows our futures under the sun. He does this in four subsections, beginning with 9:13-10:1. Here, the Teacher tells a fictional story reminiscent of 2 Samuel 20:15-22 in which a poor but wise man saves his small city from certain destruction by a large and powerful army, only to be entirely forgotten once the city no longer needed him; fame and honor are indeed fleeting. Yet, even though the man was poor, and hardly powerful in the city, his counsel was more valuable in the crisis than the council of the city fathers, and it overcame the strength of arms. Thus the Teacher concludes: “Wisdom is better than strength” yet what did this man actually gain? Nothing.

10:2-7 shows us that there are impediments to wisdom under the sun. The wise person is guided by wisdom, is cool under fire and his heart and mind are steadfast, yet there is a very good chance that he is surrounded by fools. The primary example used here is that of an unwise ruler who appoints his friends and “yes men” to high places, and becomes angry with those who actually could have given him wise counsel. I think maybe we may still encounter this problem today.

The third section is in 10:8-11 and deals with the unexpected things that seem to take place so often in this life. The wording here is entirely self explanatory, and I think we can all identify; you just can’t be sure when misfortune might strike, no matter how careful you might be; it’s sort of an “occupational hazard” of being alive.

Finally, in verses 12-15, we see the futility of words. While a wise person’s words are gracious, most of the words we hear come from fools who get carried away and speak injudiciously about all sorts of things. If they are irritated or excited, they get carried away. If they are feeling down, they get carried away, if they are happy they get carried away: blah, blah, blah. Their endeavors come to naught, their projects fail, they become weary; they can’t win. Why?

Oh dear reader, that’s an easy one: because they are fools!

As a result of this, we are back where we started: Nobody knows what will happen next; that is the way of things under the sun.

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One Fate Awaits Everyone

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Our most excellent adventure now comes to the Teacher’s second conclusion: There is only one thing in this life that is certain.

That certainty is simply this: It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do in life, you are going to die and be forgotten.

This warm and cozy reality forms the basis of Solomon’s wisdom, at least in the wisdom of his teaching. He actually calls it “the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all” in 9:3. I should remind everyone at this point that in Solomon’s day there was no concept of eternal life as Christianity understands the term; you only lived on through your children. Thus, with a fate of death in common, why be surprised that people are wicked, greedy and unrighteous? Why not eat, drink and try to have as much fun as you can? In the context in which Solomon says these kinds of things, this is logical, isn’t it? I think it is in his context, but it isn’t in our context as followers of Jesus Christ, yet that is exactly the attitude of most of us today.

Verses 4-6 discuss the fact that it is better to be alive than to be dead, but he can offer no hope of anything after that. Verses 7-10 tell us to enjoy our limited time here on earth as much as we can, and he is giving this advice to the godly ones, not the wicked, for there will be nothing when you’re gone. Verse 11 tells us that success and greatness aren’t just for the wise and talented, but rather that some will be lucky and some will not: Oh well…

Verse 12 tells us that some of us will be trapped by evil events that are out of our control: Oh well…

Thus begins the second section of the book, and as we continue in our adventure, the Teacher will develop this theme further. In the first section of the book, he taught us that we don’t know our present, in the rest of the book; he develops the conclusion that we also don’t know our future. Thus are the consequences of Man’s rebellion against God. I can say one thing in the midst of this cheerful narrative:

Boy am I glad that I didn’t come along until after Jesus Christ changed everything!

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A Sad Conclusion and a Ray of Hope

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 8:9-17

These verses seem to go on in a familiar refrain; everything is meaningless. Things happen under the sun that shouldn’t, people conjure up their schemes, and people die; what’s the point? The Teacher has been saying these things for over 7 chapters… and then it happens.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night—  then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

The most wise Solomon, the man who sought wisdom and received it, the great Teacher who has examined everything that goes on under the sun, using his great wisdom in a quest for understanding, has failed; his conclusion is that this simply cannot be understood.

With this sad admission, the first major section of Ecclesiastes comes to its conclusion, but before we rush on to the next section, let’s just have a look at one little thing in this text; we find it at the beginning of verse 17, a small little clue we might pass right over: “then I saw all that God has done”.

Wait a second: Hasn’t he been talking about what man has done?

Yes, he has been talking about what man has done! So why is that little clause in the sentence?

Has Solomon given us an additional riddle that has no solution, or is he trying to tell us something more concrete?

Oh my, there are more questions being raised than answers given, and this is always what happens under the sun, when men become philosophical, for philosophy seldom provides real answers to things, just more questions. But there is an answer to this one.

The works of Man have been ordained by God in all of their futility.

Think about it: All of that labor under the sun; all of those sleepless nights. All of that wickedness, all of those schemes, all of the justice on earth, and all of the injustice; sin, rebellion against God, and godliness and righteousness: All of this was ordained by God when He created Mankind with free will. That is not to suggest that God is the source of sin, nor is it to say that God makes men do bad things, but God gave Man free will and was prepared to deal with the consequences. Why did God do it that way?

Ah, that is what the Teacher could not discover, in spite of all of the neatly packaged Sunday school answers; no one actually knows for sure why God set things up this way, but He did. This leads us to that which our wise Teacher did succeed in discovering: We must live with this situation under the sun, which is to say that we must submit to it, for there is nothing else that we can do.

With all of that said, we now have some information that was not available to the Teacher, for in the many centuries that have passed since his time, God’s plan of redemption has been fully revealed, and as a result of that plan, we have the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit that the Teacher did not have. That gift makes our jobs much easier than Solomon’s was!

I am pleased to be able to tell you, that this is about to become a lot more interesting, for the Teacher will reveal the next big conclusion he has come to in his quest, and our adventure will be a most excellent one when he does so in the next chapter…

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As a new day begins…

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Don Merritt

…each of us will face its challenges. There will be circumstances that develop, circumstances over which we may not have any control, circumstances that we simply cannot fix or that are bigger and stronger than we are. Some will surmount those situations and circumstances; others will be swept up by them which will it be for you?

There were two boats sailing in the bay. A stiff wind swept into the area blowing in the direction of the rocks and away from the harbor. The pilot of one of the boats was taken closer and closer to the rocks, its pilot having great difficulty controlling his course as the wind blew him closer and closer to disaster. Yet the pilot of the other boat adjusted his sails and set his course against the wind toward the safe harbor, for he knew that a good sailor can use the wind and sail against it. The minutes went by as one boat approached its end on the rocks and the other approached the safe harbor…

When all was said and done, the first sailor was lucky to have survived, and the other wrapped up an enjoyable day of sailing.

As we approach this new day, we can either be wrecked on the rocks of our circumstances or we can let God direct our course into the safe harbor of His loving arms, for just as two boats can sail in opposite directions in the same wind, we can move in opposite directions in response to our circumstances. In the case of sailing, the difference is training and skill. In the case of our life’s circumstances, it is seeking God’s presence that makes the difference.

Which way will we sail today?

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Random Ramblings: September 2, 2017

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Don Merritt

This has been some week!

There have been so many incredible images from the hurricane down in Texas, and so much discussion about the conditions there, the unusual weather pattern, the records that were set, and the response to it all. You know the commentators who discuss whether or not the government was swift enough or effective enough and by most accounts, we can be pleased by the response of Federal, State and Local governments.

Naturally, many of the comments had a political flavor to them like “This is Trump’s first big test” and so on.

Even so, it sure looked as though everyone pulled together for the good of the people who were affected by the storm, a storm that just didn’t want to go away. One comment that I heard from a news person has stuck with me: It was something like this… “Even though government agencies of all levels have rescued an incredible number of people, private citizens have rescued even more.”

Regular folks who have boats went off to rescue their neighbors, even strangers, with no care for whatever differences they might have in culture, ethnicity or worldview, and they risked their own safety in the process… A small armada of pleasure craft saving the lives of anyone they came upon… in this day and age… Wow!

Texas: We are in awe of your spirit and dedication to one another: God bless Texas!

Yet it wasn’t just Texans, for people came from all over America to help out, united in a spirit of community and national pride to save our fellows in a time of crisis: God bless America!

To my strange way of looking at things this whole thing puts the lie to what the pollsters have been telling us about ourselves. Aren’t we supposed to be hopelessly divided, fighting among ourselves just as the politicians always are…? Is it possible that Americans have had a “Come to Jesus” moment?

It’s something to hope and pray for, don’t you think?

The story of Harvey and the aftermath is far from over as we all know; there will be more news that comes out of today’s events. As we have come to expect, our news broadcasts will bring us the latest and the most important news of the day, so I hope we can all take the time to tune in and find out what is truly important today… which of course will be what kind of shoes Mrs. Trump is wearing.

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Submission to the King

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 8:1-8

Our adventure moves into chapter 8 and brings us to what no doubt will be a favorite subject for all of us: submission and obedience. As you can see, verse 1 is transitional; the meat begins to be seen in 2-4:

Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

The Teacher gives some very practical advice here; don’t mess around with the king! I’m sure that everyone can understand this; the king was the last word on every matter.

I skimmed through a commentary or two to see if the commentators pointed out the obvious, and at least in the ones I could get hold of quickly, none did, but here it is: The Teacher who is telling us this is the king! My point in mentioning this is that the author in this case, will be the beneficiary of his own advice; you may do with this information what you like.

To be fair, this is good advice in any case after all didn’t your Mama warn you not to go looking for trouble? Mine did.

Verses 5-6 amplify his point with the statement that the person who obeys the command of the king (comparable to our saying “is law abiding”) will come to no harm, and “the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure” of course is indicative of the fact the wise will know the rules to play by.  Playing by the rules is the most intelligent policy, even in times of difficulty. Our final two verses amplify this further by pointing out that in matters of submission to higher authority, we simply lack the power to prevail if we choose to oppose it, and once we act in a wicked way, we are pretty well stuck with a wicked outcome.

So far, chapter 8 seems fairly obvious to me; there isn’t really much for me to add to it to make it more interesting, which as you know, makes the writer’s job much more difficult. I’m tempted to do as any good preacher might and introduce a tangent that leads to a hobby horse, so I can take you all for a nice ride and ‘fill the time,’ but not today… I will tell you this, however: This writer sees a ray of hope in the next section…

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