Monday 9 November 2020

Avoiding the inevitable?


We would do well to remember that every scripture passage was written in a time and context. So, when our friend Solomon is musing about various things we need to reflect on what is happening in the world about 3000 years ago. What do you think is happening in his world when you read these words?

"Since no one knows the future who can tell someone else what is to come? As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless." - Ecclesiastes 8:7-10

There were 2 points that I found interesting:
1. None of us knows what will happen in the future, so we can't tell others what is to come. We need to entrust our time and lives into God's hands.

2. We can't contain the wind (although we can now harness it) - and so none of us can stop our own death. What we can do is prepare ourselves as much as possible and then live our lives to the fullest.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
― Mark Twain

Living in Grace
D3LM3

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