The sermon at church yesterday was one of the best I have heard on the book of Ecclesiastes.
Pastor Norbert summarized the book with 3 main points:
1. Trusting in God’s sovereignty allows us to live with life’s mysteries.
My 5-year-old niece suddenly died on March 12th. Though she had many physical challenges when she was born, Breanna was growing normally – maturing physically, mentally, and no doubt spiritually with her weekly church attendance and influence from her godly parents. She was starting to read, learned to play a few tunes on the keyboard, and happily frolicking with her little 2-year old sister. She went into the hospital at about 2pm with a stomachache, possibly due to complications in her intestines from a prior surgery when she was a baby. Five hours later, she passed away.
It’s no use asking “Why?” There is no answer. There are many mysteries in life such as this that makes no rational sense. Trusting in God’s sovereignty allows us to accept seemingly senseless and tragic situations.
2. Trusting that God is good allows us to live with enjoyment.
Les you get the impression that God is sadistic and rules tyrannically, trusting that God is good allows us to live this life with enjoyment and not fear. We complain when there is misfortune, but we forget that the abundance we enjoy also comes from God. For most of us, we receive more blessings than curses. We can freely enjoy life’s goodness without fear or guilt. I have a great family, enough resources, all my body parts function…there is nature’s beauty, recreation, music, books…all this to treasure, because God is good.
3. Trusting that God is just allows us to live responsibly.
This makes good sense. I believe we all have an innate sense of justice. To illustrate that there is an objective moral law, Greg Koukl would ask, “Do you think it is wrong to torture babies for fun?” There answer should be obvious. If there is a right and wrong, it follows is that there will be consequences for doing wrong. Justice, if not in this world, will be meted out on judgment day.
Those are 3 good principles to live by.