Every Day Light

A budding romance

"My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you —?" (v. 1)

For reading & meditation: Ruth 3:1

As Naomi ponders the sovereignty of God in the meeting between Ruth and Boaz, she begins to realize there is a distinct possibility that Boaz will take on the responsibility of marrying Ruth and providing the security she needs in the future. She begins, therefore, to formulate a clear and daring plan to ensure the continuance of the budding romance.

Note how she opens up the conversation: "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz — a kinsman of ours?" (vv. 1-2). This is not meddling or matchmaking, but simply bringing to bear on the issues the insight God has given to her.

Most people who fall in love and contemplate marriage could do with a little advice and counsel. Personally, I have never conducted a marriage service for a couple without requiring them to go through some premarital counseling. After all, marriage is probably the most important change that anyone on this earth can experience apart from conversion, and if ever guidance and help is needed, it is in relation to negotiating the difficulties that can occur when two people establish a close relationship.

I have come to the conclusion that one of the greatest indictments that can be leveled at the contemporary Christian Church is its failure, generally speaking, to assist and guide those who are about to be married. The more thought and care that goes into planning and preparing for marriage, the more likelihood there is that the couple will spend all their wedding anniversaries - together.

Father, forgive us that we, Your Church, have thought more about how to conduct weddings than how to nurture marriages. Help us to transmit the wisdom that comes from the Scriptures and our own life experiences to those about to marry. Amen.

Every Day Light

What's Scarce?

"... I found one [upright] man among a thousand ..." (v. 28)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 7:25-29

Wisdom was something very important to Solomon. It was this that he prayed for when God said to him: 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you' (1 Kings 3:5). In addition, Solomon had set out to discover all he could about earthly wisdom. When he put all his findings together, he concluded human wisdom was not all it was cracked up to be.

His next remark, one that some would say is extremely sexist, makes the point that while wisdom was elusive, so also was righteousness, and although he had found one righteous man in a thousand, he had not found one righteous woman at all. Does this mean that men are better than women? Of course not. Solomon is just making a comparison which in his culture would not have the connotation it has today. He is using what we call hyperbole - an exaggerated statement made for emphasis.

Even if he was saying that men are better than women then, as R. Gordis points out: "When you work out his figures men are only one tenth of one percent better than women." His real point is seen in verse 29 - righteousness is scarce.

Why? It's not God's fault, because in the beginning He made humankind pure and upright. But tragedy struck, and through the willful disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin invaded human nature. Our problems are not God's fault, but ours. They are not around us, but within us. We can't blame anyone other than ourselves for our lack of righteousness. The reason we are not righteous is because we don't want to be.

Father, I am so thankful that although I cannot find righteousness in myself, I can find it in You. Through Christ's sacrifice for me on Calvary I have righteousness not merely imputed to me, but imparted to me. I am eternally grateful. Amen.

Every Day Light

Wisdom - Only from God

"Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound - who can discover it?" (v. 24)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 7:19-24

Wisdom provides us with an inner strength. That is the point Solomon is making in this passage. One who operates with wisdom possesses more strength than ten city officials. And those who have come up against officialdom and bureaucracy will know that this is some strength!

When we have wisdom, we have the inner strength to cope with whatever comes - tensions, stresses, and problems that are not easily resolved. Solomon goes on to point out, however, that the possession of wisdom does not mean we become popular. You will still get criticized, he tells us, but don't let that throw you.

"You may hear your servant cursing you ... many times you yourself have cursed others" (vv. 21-22).

"When people criticize me," a friend told me, "I am thankful they don't know how bad I really am, or they would have much worse to say." As Chuck Swindoll puts it:

"Give God thanks that people are just hitting the visible, not the whole truth."

Solomon's next statement about wisdom is: "'I [was] determined to be wise' - but this was beyond me" (v. 23). Solomon found in seeking wisdom that wisdom was not easy to find. Why is that? Because while we have an innate ability to gather knowledge, we cannot be wise without the help of God.

Solomon did not make this next statement, but nevertheless, this is what he is saying:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault" (James 1:5).

You can find knowledge in the world, but wisdom - true wisdom, that is - comes only from God.

O God, I bow before You and acknowledge that the wisdom I need to handle life I just haven't got. I fail to see the things I ought to see and value the things I ought to value. Give me Your wisdom, dear Father - heavenly wisdom. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

Every Day Light

Keep Your Balance

"The man who fears God will avoid all [extremes]." (v. 18)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 7:15-18

One perplexing situation for which wisdom and a divine perspective is needed, says Solomon, is when we see the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. The psalmist struggled with this age-old problem (particularly in Ps. 73), and so have millions since.

A tyrant lives on, while a missionary family on their way to bring help and medical care to others is lost in a plane crash. You can't make sense of that unless you have an unshakable trust in God, and believe that one day (not now) He will answer every question to our satisfaction.

The second issue for which wisdom and a divine perspective is needed is the matter of spiritual balance. "Do not be overrighteous" is Solomon's advice (v. 16). He is thinking here, I believe, of those who (forgive the cliche) are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.

I know people who think they are head over heels in love with the Lord, but who have no love for others. The apostle John called these people "liars" (1 John 4:20). Super-spirituality is out, says Solomon; it's an extreme. But lest we go to the other extreme he speaks out against this also: "Do not be overwicked" (v. 17).

All of us, because of the Fall, have a wicked streak within us, and we should watch that we do not indulge that. He is not saying you can get away with a little wickedness. Far from it. He is saying don't give way to it. Solomon is pleading for moderation. Extremes and excesses are destructive. Keep your balance.

O God, teach me how to avoid all excesses and extremes so that I might be a truly balanced Christian. I would shun overspirituality as I would shun unbridled urges and lusts. Help me, my Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Every Day Light

The Best Friend

"Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning." (v. 13)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Strange though it may sound, it is possible to have many friends and still be lonely. That's the point Solomon is making in the verses before us today.

Look again at the picture he presents in verse 13. It is a picture of two people: one a poor but wise youth, the other an old but rich king. Who would you think has the advantage? The king? Not so, says Solomon. He may have more experience of life, but something more than experience is needed if we are to walk effectively through the world.

What we need is - wisdom. Experience without wisdom is of little benefit. It's not how many hours we have lived that counts, but what we have gained from those hours that is important.

The whole of chapter 4 has been taken up with the issue of loneliness, and Solomon ends by underlining the fact that it is not our circumstances that make us lonely, but our inability to apply wisdom to our situation.

Take two people who are in exactly the same circumstances. Both are surrounded by agreeable and helpful companions. One enjoys the company of friends, but the other complains that he is lonely. Where lies the problem with the one who feels lonely? Not in the outer circumstances, but in the "innerstances" - his attitudes. He lacks the wisdom to see that no human being can provide him with the comfort which the soul so deeply craves. That is found only in God.

The wise are those who understand that while human friends are important, the best friend to have is God.

My Father and my God, grant me the wisdom to understand that while the making and keeping of earthly friendships is important, the making and keeping of Your friendship is even more important. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Every Day Light

Every Day Light

The Patience of God

"God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked ..." (v. 17)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

Ever found yourself feeling frustrated because of the way in which wickedness seems to win over justice? Then you know something of how Solomon feels in the verses before us today.

Every generation, throughout time, has had to face this problem. James Russell Lowell put it this way: Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.

Solomon struggles, as no doubt you have done (and perhaps still do), with the fact that in the very place where you would expect to see justice, you find wickedness and corruption prevailing. In the days when I was a pastor, I sometimes went to court with people who had a genuine case to be heard, only to see it broken down by tactics that were dishonest and unjust. I have seen enough injustice in my time to share something of Solomon's cynicism.

Are you at this moment a victim of judicial injustice? Then don't allow yourself to become too cynical, for, as Solomon said: "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked ..." Wrong will not continue forever.

The day is coming when all corruption and injustice will be called to judgment before the throne of God's truth. But of course, being human, we wish the injustices we have received could be put right - now. God seems to be much more patient than we are, and what we must do is to ask for grace to be patient with the patience of God.

"O God my Father, give me the divine perspective on things so that present injustices may be swallowed up in the long-term purposes. Help me see that I will have my day in court - Your court. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen."

Every Day Light

Every Day Light

A Thorough God

"God does it so that men will revere him." (v. 14)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

In these verses we come face to face with the thoroughness of God.

However ragged life may seem in a fallen world, the Creator knows no such Imperfections. Everything He does is not only permanent, but complete: "nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it" (v. 14).

Ever sent for something and found that when it comes a part is missing? God's quality control is 100 percent. Why does God do things with such thoroughness? Solomon tells us: "... so that men will revere him." He does it to cultivate in our hearts a climate of reverence.

"Religion," it has been said, "begins with a sense of awe, the recognition of God's greatness and our limitations." When do we feel awe? Awe fills us when we stand and look at the works of God - a majestic mountain, a glorious sunset, or a tranquil lake. You don't say as you stand before the Niagara Falls: "Isn't that cute?" You simply stand in silent awe.

But what does Solomon mean when he tells us that whatever is has already been, and that "God will call the past to account" (v. 15)? Moffatt translates this statement: "God is ever bringing back what disappears." It means quite simply that God repeats situations in our lives until we learn the lessons they are meant to teach us.

God wants to make a permanent lesson out of something we think is merely passing and temporary. Think of the heartache we would be saved if we could just get hold of this.

O God, when will I learn? I go through the same situations time and time again simply because I have not heeded Your voice. Make me alert to each passing moment, and show me how to draw from it the lessons You want to teach me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Every Day Light

Every Day Light

God-Given Abilities

"That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God." (v. 13)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

When God is in our lives, then His presence makes a world of difference. God gives us four things so that we might enjoy our life here on planet earth.

First, He gives us the ability to be happy (v. 12). Happiness is a gift. Only God can give us the perspective on life that enables us to remain happy even when things don't go our way. A new Christian put it like this: "I am happier now when I am sad than before when I was happy."

Second, God gives us the ability to do good (v. 12). It takes God to help us be good to those who are not good to us. We don't have the kind of hearts that want to do good to those who are not good to us; that ability flows from God's heart of love and compassion into ours.

Third, God gives us the ability to eat and drink (v. 13). Have you ever considered that your appetite is something that comes from God? It is a gift from our loving Father's hand. Thinking about that will, I promise you, help you enjoy your food much better.

Fourth, God gives us the ability to see good in our labor (v. 13). The whole workplace could be transformed overnight if men and women saw it from God's perspective. Instead of asking, "What is the least I can do for a day's wages?", our question would be: "What is the most I can do for a day's wages?" Hard to take? That's because it is an "above the sun" perspective.

"O God, when I see how much of my life depends on You, I feel ashamed at how slow I am to appreciate that fact. Forgive me, dear Father, and evoke within me an ever-growing consciousness of Your own continued goodness. In Jesus' Name. Amen."

Every Day Light

Education without God

Every Day Light

"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief." (v. 18)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

We said yesterday that one of the reasons why Solomon uses so many vivid illustrations is to break through our defensive attempts to avoid reality. It was T. S. Eliot who said that "humankind cannot bear very much reality." Psychologists warn that we should be careful about stripping away people's defenses, as coming face to face with reality too quickly can cause those who are fragile to slide into depression.

The author of Ecclesiastes seems unconcerned about this, however, and tells us over and over again, and with deep conviction, that life "under the sun" is futile. In the passage before us he tells us how his determination to find a purpose for living led him to serious study. But study, and trying to grasp the meaning of the universe by the intellect alone, proved also to be futile. He says that it is like "chasing after the wind" (v. 17). Moffatt translates our text for today:

"The more you understand the more you ache."

Life, real life that is, cannot be found through education and intellectual attainment alone. To quote Muggeridge again: "Education - the great mumbo and fraud of the ages," says this highly educated man, "purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility. For the most part it serves to enlarge stupidity, inflate conceit, enhance credulity and puts those subjected to it at the mercy of brainwashing with printing presses, radio and television ..." Lloyd George put it succinctly when he made this caustic comment: "Education without God makes clever devils." Who can deny it?

O God, save me from the mistake of believing that life is to be found in deep or profound thinking. Help me see that life is to be found in first knowing You, then thinking Your thoughts after You. Teach me to think as You think, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

"Don't Adjust Your Life"

Every Day Light

"... there is nothing new under the sun." (v. 9)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

It is surprising how many Christians have never read the Book of Ecclesiastes. One woman told me that Ecclesiastes was the one book in the Bible she could not read. "I am put off by all that pessimism and gloom," she explained. There is, however, a purpose behind this pessimism and gloom.

Dr. Cynddylan Jones, a famous Welsh preacher, put it like this: "No Christian will be ready to open himself up to God until he has been gripped, as Ecclesiastes was gripped, by the emptiness and pointlessness of life. It is only when we see, and see clearly, that life is not to be found in the world that we will be ready to move closer toward God."

It is interesting to observe that most philosophers, when they look reality in the face, come to the same conclusion as Solomon. Malcolm Muggeridge, for example, in the days before he found God, saw the world as "an interminable opera." Some graffiti found on the walls of Bath University was even more to the point: "Do not adjust your life, the fault lies in reality."

One of the reasons, I believe, why Solomon uses such vivid illustrations is in order to break through our defensive attempts to avoid reality. Life "under the sun," he has told us, can be boring, fleeting, repetitive, and empty. Life will never be meaningful "under the sun" until we make contact with the One who is above the sun.

Those who try to find meaning without linking their lives to the Creator inevitably see life as an "interminable soap opera." Is it any wonder?

Gracious and loving Father, wean me off any ideas I may have that life can be found 'under the sun.' Grant that I might be gripped by the truth that life, real life, is never found in the horizontal but in the Vertical. In You. Amen.

Life Without God

Every Day Light

"Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever." (v. 4)

For reading & meditation: Ecclesiastes 1:3-7

Francis Schaeffer wrote that there are times "when a negative message is needed before anything positive can begin." That sums up the Book of Ecclesiastes. It seeks first to silence us with the utter futility of life before turning our gaze to the one and only reality - God.

In the passage before us today the author begins the task of dragging us through the undeniable facts manifesting the pointlessness and the emptiness of life in order to show us that we must look elsewhere than the world around us for the water that our souls so deeply crave. Three things are said about life without God - it is boring, fleeting, and repetitive.

"What does man gain from all his labor ... ?" asks Solomon. Some people enjoy working for a living, but most don't. They watch the clock, fantasize, make up mental games - all designed to fill the time until the workday is over. If we do not see our work as imitating the creativity of God, then it can become exceedingly boring.

"Generations come and generations go," says Solomon. Life is so fleeting. How small and insignificant it makes us feel. Then think about this, continues Solomon. Every morning the sun rises, sets, then the next day the same thing happens ... and the next ... and the next. Life is so repetitive. The same with the wind. Where does it come from and where does it go?

Life on this planet is not all gloom, of course, but who can escape the conclusion that there is something about earth that just does not satisfy?

Gracious and loving heavenly Father, drive this truth deeply into my spirit that I am made by You, made for You, and my heart will never be content until it is filled with You. Indwell every empty space that is within me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.