PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:
A few years ago, there was a toy manufacturer that was considering making a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that did not fit together, no matter how much you poured over the puzzle, experimented with this combination, or that one, you would NEVER be able to fit all the pieces into the beautiful picture that one usually gets when you expend that much energy assembling the puzzle. I heard it exists, but I have never seen one, except in “everyday real-world life”. They said they were designing such a puzzle as a learning aid to teach children, and adults alike, that “sometimes the pieces of life do not fit nicely together”. To be told they always do is misinformation. Someone on Facebook recently wrote about something even more frustrating. This person said, “I Hate It When Puzzle Pieces Fit Together But the Pictures Don’t Match Up… – probably one of the most frustrating things in the world!”
When we experience that truth then life does become an experience in “futility”. In a published Easter message titled-“Never Die Again” Earnest Campbell tells of a grave stone in an old cemetery in Girard, Pennsylvania that has this inscription on it:
“In memory of Ellen Shannon
aged 26 years
who was fatally burned
March 21, 1870
by the explosion of a lamp
filled with R.E.Danforth’s
non-exploding burning fluid”
Campbell goes on to say, “I am tired of non-explosive fluids exploding! of fail-proof banks failing! of sure-fire programs that fall flat! of preventatives that don’t prevent! of solutions that don’t solve! of remedies that don’t cure! of panaceas that don’t pan-out!” (The Miracle of Easter, Floyd Thatcher. pg.41. 1980). I think all of us would admit that trying to figure out these “mysteries” of life “under the sun” can leave us quite exhausted and frustrated! That is not a modern dilemma. There was an ancient mystery riddle that spoke to this issue. It is called the Riddle of the Sphinx. It went like this:
A thing there is whose voice is one,
Whose feet are two and four and three.
So mutable a thing is none
That moves in earth or sky or sea.
When on most feet this thing doth go
Its strength is weakest and its pace most slow.
No one seemed to be able to solve the riddle. Oedipus, the ancient mythological king of Thebes, achieved his fame by solving the Riddle of the Sphinx. That answer freed his city from bondage to this powerful goddess from the underworld. The answer was Man: for man goes on all fours when a baby, on two feet as an adult, on three feet, (with a cane), when old. (Michael Grant, Myths of the Greeks and Romans p,196). Yes, the life of man from ancient days has remained a riddle. A dilemma. A futility. No one seems to have the answer. It has caused many to ask who am I? How did I get here in this condition? Where am I going? An Ancient Chinese story relates that this dilemma is worldwide. Chang Chou wrote:
“How can I tell you why I am so, or am not so?
Once, I Chang Chou, dreamed that I was a butterfly.
I was happy as a butterfly, I was pleased with myself,
But I did not know that I was Chou.
Suddenly I awoke, and there I was, visibly Chou.
I did not know if I was Chou dreaming I was a butterfly,
Or a butterfly dreaming it was Chou!”
(Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton Press. 1963 p.190).
That is where modern man is today. We have been there so long we don’t even seem to greatly bothered by it now. We just go on blindly in futility, accepting this “life of futility as our lot in life”. G.K. Chesterton defined the problem, when he said, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t SEE THE PROBLEM!” Reality is as Os Guinness says, “There is always more to knowing than human knowing will ever know!”
(In Two Minds, Os Guinness. 1976 p. 41). Solomon, God’s real-life Oedipus, sought to solve the riddle of man. All his investigation led to more questions than answers. He finally decided that God alone is the keeper of that Key, and He has not given it to anyone! He was inspired of the Holy Spirit to record his discoveries in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Many misunderstand the message of Ecclesiastes. They see his discussion of pessimism, despair, self-destruction, resignation and decide he is writing about the fact that that is how life is lived apart from God. But that is not the case. Solomon is writing about his Spirit-inspired reflections on life. Life is not futile only to those who live “life under the sun” apart from God-it is futile for everyone “under the sun”. Though frustrated by his inability to understand how all that he encounters in human existence fits together, Qohelet makes a faith response to the inexplicableness of life, “choosing to enjoy life as a good gift from the Creator, and obeying His commandments, in light of the fact that one day we must give a personal accounting to Him“.
God had given Solomon opportunity to “bear witness” to Him by giving him greater wisdom that any other human being to date. His fame was world renown. He dazzled everyone, including the Queen of Sheba, with his wisdom, (see I Kings 10:1). God had told Solomon’s father David; the nations will come to you saying “Show me something Good” (Ps. 4:6). Moses had said God tells you, “Keep my commandments and do them; for that will be your wisdom IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLE, (Gentile nations). They will say, ‘what a wise and discerning people is this great nation! Where is there a nation that has a god so near? or laws and ordinances so just?’ “ (Deuteronomy 4:6-8). Solomon in his life had failed to ” seize the opportunity”. He instead was influenced by their gods, and the evil they embraced. Ecclesiastes is God giving him a second chance to reach the nations of the world, who are also perplexed with “life under the sun” and “move them on to know and obey” the only True and Living God, who alone can give an “above the sun perspective” to those “living under the sun”.
There is a very convicting Inscription on the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. It reads:
Thou Shalt not be a Victim.
Thou Shalt not be a Perpetrator
Thou Shalt not be a Bystander
Man is a Victim. Satan is the Perpetrator. Jean Paul Satre says, we now live in “a world that has no doors!” i.e., there is no way out of this human dilemma, except in his view, “suicide”. Today’s world has bought into that lie! As Solomon played the role of a Bystander for years. He fell to being a Victim. He recovered and wrote a Book pointing his world to the “only Answer under the Sun“. We too can join him, for we have the “Wisdom” of one greater that Solomon, (see Matthew 12:43) who has promised us “life more abundantly if lived under the Son!” (John 10:10). As a Christian witness, “show them the answer!” If you must-use words! (Francis of Assisi- “Preach the Gospel-if you must use words”).