Hang On! part 1

Welcome to the beginning of the second half of 2023 – already! (How did that happen so quickly?) Now that we’re fully six months into 2023, what do you think the remainder of this year holds for you? It’s pretty hard to predict, even at this point, isn’t it. Anything can happen, but one thing remains: regardless of what happens, over the course of the remainder of this year, don’t give up! Do not give up!   

"Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them” Ecclesiastes 1:2-11.
 

Solomon must have been having a bad day when he wrote this. He couldn’t see anything of any value regarding life in these verses. Life is meaningless, like trying to catch your breath, everything is vanity; these are not words of hope. All we are is dust in the wind; there is nothing new under the sun. Keep in mind, Solomon was the wealthiest man on the earth at that time. He could have owned Bill Gates, and yet, interestingly enough, he’s struggling with life. 

This is just an observation, but it seems that when we have more than enough, we want more. Isn’t that the America way?! When we don’t have enough, we long for "just the necessities of life," and that’s really what this message is all about. Don’t give up on doing what is necessary in your life.   

Solomon seemed to be struggling with the routine of life in these verses. He appears to be wanting more. It seems that he feels he is wasting his time. However, there is something about maintaining the status quo that I believe becomes the essence of life. I maintain that the occasional manifestation of the presence of God is due to maintaining the status quo. If we are not seeing signs, wonders, and miracles in the way we would like to – it’s most likely from the lack of maintaining the status quo and doing the things that need to be done daily.   
 

Another portion of Scripture we have read before is from Matthew 3. This was when John the Baptist had been baptizing people and the Pharisees show up to be baptized. Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’”

Continued tomorrow