Ecclesiastes 8:1-9 – Wisdom in Waiting

"For there is a time and a way for everything, although a man's trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?"

Ecclesiastes 8:6-7 (ESV)

 

Wisdom prepares us for what lies ahead - but it could never give us the ability predict it, let alone control it.

Giving my life to Christ was the greatest decision that I've ever made. Trusting in Him is the most difficult decision that I've continued to make everyday following. I struggle with not knowing what's next, which is at the foundation of trust. I need to have a plan, and when my plan inevitably falls apart, I make a new one. The truth is, I feel like I need control, unless I'm happy. But no one's happy always, and control has never been ours to own. Sometimes "bad" things happen, and that's as simple of an explanation as we're gonna get. It might not be because of anything we did wrong, but we have to accept that they happened, because no one as far as I know has ever been able to change the past. We can hurt, stress, mourn, and bargain all at our own pace, but ultimately the only day that we're living in is today. Time will continue to move at the same pace that it always has, and God will proceed with the plan that He had at the beginning - the same one He had the last time that we got hurt, and the time before that, and before that, and even the one that we haven't experienced yet.

Does it make the waiting easier? No, not much. But bad things aren't going to stop happening, as long as there's a world for sin to exist in. Sin lies heavy on us, but it can't ever be heavy enough to make time move any slower.

Eventually, there will be a time and a way for happiness. A time and a way for sadness will follow. One for warmth, warmth that'll escape, to come back again some other time. I can prepare myself to brave the cold, and trust that it won't always be that way. I can trust that when it comes again, I'll be ready. I'll want to hold onto what makes me feel good, but it's not mine to hold onto. And that's okay - I can only control the legs under my body, the arms at my sides, and the head on my shoulders. The Lord has given me all of them, which I am incredibly thankful for. He's even given me a family, and loving friends to stay at my side as I navigate each day in its entirety. Even if He had given me none of these things, still, I will rejoice. Even if my heart is under renovation.

It's not known for sure who the author of Ecclesiastes was. It might have been Solomon, but all we know is that it was a wise man. Even he clearly wasn't immune to difficult times, and so a lot of people see Ecclesiastes as such a pessimistic and borderline nihilistic book to be in the Word (ironic as that sounds). But I don't think that's true. I think that the author just sounds very negative, because he has so much experience with the corruption of man from sin. He has such a grasp on the inescapable nature of sin, so it should seem a bit negative - sin is inherently negative. But there's so much hope to be found in this book when you really understand what he's trying to get at. Everywhere that there's hopelessness, there is also hope. Maybe in that way, there aren't really any "bad" times.

So go ahead - yearn for the past, and dread the future. Today will pass, just as yesterday has, and just as tomorrow will. Only God knows the details.

"Teach me to trust You with my life. Loosen my grip over control of what happens in the meantime."

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