August 8 - When The Meaningless Becomes Meaningful

When The Meaningless Becomes Meaningful

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.”  Ecclesiastes 12:1

Years ago, there was a song called “Alfie” where the first line always got your attention. It went: “What’s it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live? What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?” A lot of people find themselves asking that question silently, if not to those around them. Even, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wondered about the meaning of life. He started out in the book of Ecclesiastes by saying, "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 1:2

Sheila Crowe, in “Changing Seasons,” characterized the “seven seasons” of life this way:
1.   Spills of Infancy – Everything goes to the floor as you play the game of “I drop; you pick up.” 2.   Drills of Childhood – Spelling drills, multiplication drills, Bible drills - the lessons drilled into your head by your parents and teachers. 3.   Thrills of the Teen Years - The feeling of immortality, roller coaster rides, dating, acne. 4.   Bills of Adult Living – Work, bills, marriage, bills, buying a house bills; car, bills, raising children bills, bills, bills, and  more bills. 5.   Ill’s of the Hills - When the excitement of the mid-life crisis lands you in the hospital. 6.   The Pills of Over-the-Hill - One for arthritis; one for high blood pressure; one for this and two for that. 7.  Wills of Old Age – I will get up, I will get up, No, I will not get up.- Uhmm, can I get some help to get up!

C.S. Lewis stated that if we look at this world apart from God, life seems intolerably cruel and mean. If we understand that we live in a fallen world, then we understand that this world isn’t the way God made it; it’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  Statistics revealed some time ago that ten percent of the British people believe they would be better off dead.  One in four people said they were unhappy in their jobs, while one in three felt exhausted, unappreciated, or underpaid. Christine Webber, the psychotherapist who carried out the survey, said: "Sadly, it comes as no surprise to me that so many people are unhappy at home and work. It seems that people’s lives do not live up to their extremely high expectations. It is particularly worrying to see so many people dwelling on morbid thoughts, with a large proportion just plainly exhausted by life."

Clarence Darrow, the great criminal lawyer of another day, had among his friends a young minister. This seems strange, because, as you remember, Darrow was usually thought of as an atheist, infidel, agnostic or what have you.
They were talking one day and Mr. Darrow became reminiscent. He talked of his career and some of the famous trials in which he had been the lawyer for the defense. He said, "This has been an exciting life." He made at least a comfortable fortune and he guessed he might be regarded as somewhat of a success. Then Mr. Darrow asked, "Would you like to know my favorite Bible verse?" His friend said, "Indeed I would." Mr. Darrow said, "You will find it in Luke 5:5. ’We’ve toiled all the night and have taken nothing.’" He added, "In spite of my success, that verse seems to sum up the way I feel about life."
No matter what one does in life, no matter what position he may obtain, no matter what he might come to own...if he leaves God out, the time will come when life itself will rise up and mock him with the word -- nothing -- nothing! Darrow understood it…and Solomon did too. 

What are some things we pursue to find purpose? Success? Wealth? Relationships? Sex?  Entertainment? Credit? Pleasure? …And there is still emptiness …there is still a void. There is still in our hearts a God-shaped void that can only be filled by God.

One baseball player who made it to the Hall of Fame was asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing baseball, he replied, ”I wish someone had told me that when you get to the top, …there’s nothing there!”

As we read scripture from Ecclesiastes and we hear how “Meaningless” life is according to Solomon’s musings, we begin to realize that the problems that we and Solomon are up against have developed because we are living life as though all there is to life is what we can see with our eyes and experience with our senses. God created us for something beyond the physical, and beyond the here and now.  While He begins Ecclesiastes 1 with words of the “meaningless” nature of life, He concludes in Ecclesiastes 12 with the answer in knowing God.   He writes, ““Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.”  The answer is in focusing our attention on God.  If we neglect Him, then life is empty and meaningless and wasted. If we will follow Him – life will be fulfilling and happy and have purpose.  Those are wise words from the richest man who ever lived.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   Why do people struggle to find meaning without God?

2)   How does keeping God first turn that around in our lives?

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

Consider reading the Word today: