In which I reveal the meaning of life…

We’re now very close to the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes. If we were hoping to find answers to the meaning of life, there are only two short verses left. Not much time to convince us that life is not futile, that everything is not meaningless.

The Teacher doesn’t. He can’t. On one level, life is futile. Everything is meaningless. There is no meaning to life.

We are here because we were born. God created us. He created the world and chose to create humans. For His pleasure. Because He wanted to basically. Although there must be an awful lot of things that go on every single day that cannot bring God pleasure – which makes you wonder if this whole pleasure project was a failure and the God got it wrong because He allowed us to get it wrong.

We will never understand. Take one day, one incident; scratch the surface for a while and watch the whole meaning and significance of that moment start to unravel. I can show you how everything is meaningless. For every answer you give me, I will ask ‘But why?’ and we’ll soon get to the point of you running out of answers and replying with great frustration –

It just is!

For everything always has to be seen in the context of the bigger picture, I guess – the picture of eternity that God has a handle on but our minds will never be able to grasp.

(And that is life with a belief in a Creator God. The alternative is equally as futile – more so, to my mind. That it was all a big accident. All completely random. There is no Creator. No purpose. It takes far more faith to believe that scenario than to believe in a Creator.)

So where does that leave us? Actually, it leaves us in a very familiar place. A place we were introduced to first back in the story of the Children of Israel being delivered from Egypt and wandering for forty years in the wilderness. It’s a theme that’s carried on through the lives of the kings of Israel and right up to where we are now.

Ready for the great revelation? This is it –

Trust and Obey

That’s it. That really is it. At the end of the day, this is what we are required to do. This is all that we can do.

But don’t take my word for it. These are the words of the Teacher.

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.  Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV)

The last and final word is this:

Fear God.
Do what he tells you.  Ecclesiastes 12:13 (The Message)

Both of those versions say ‘Fear God’. To me, that is all about trusting God. Respect. Awe. Allowing Him to have all the answers and us to have none. Trusting that He knows what He is doing. Not fighting to make sense of everything every minute of the day. Being OK with not understanding why most of the time. Knowing that we pretty much know nothing and never will know it all, but that God does and that is more than enough. This is faith. This is trust.

This whole book has tried to make sense of life and this is what the Teacher has come back to. This is it. It is this simple.

And when we trust, obey follows. If we really believe God knows the best way for us to live, because He understands everything and He created us in the first place, then we will want to live His best way. It’s the obvious choice. Except that it isn’t, is it? God’s way feels hard and sacrificial. It goes against our natural selfishness and self-centredness. It takes effort. It involves risk. Of course, the rewards are a healthier, happier, more fulfilled life, but getting onto that path and staying on it takes an act of will.

Take love for example. We use the word all the time. We talk about love all the time. It’s the subject of countless films, books, songs…except that isn’t really love most of the time, is it? Not the kind of love in action God is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13. Not the kind of love that is patient and kind. The kind of love that does not envy, does not boast, and is not proud. Where is the evidence of that kind of love – in our lives, our churches, our communities, our world?

We really have lost sight of this kind of love that does not dishonour others, is not self-seeking and is not easily angered. Many of us do not feel loved in this way. By anyone. Many of us do not express love like this. To anyone. Well yes, maybe in some small way to those we profess to love – our partners, our kids, our parents. But even then, our love is pretty flawed.

Maybe with our friends, we have a love that keeps no record of wrongs. Maybe. Maybe we have close friendships that do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. Maybe. Maybe we always want the best for our friends and never do or say anything that may hurt them.

But what about the people who don’t like us? The people we don’t agree with? The people we find really really difficult to accept? The people who have hurt us? Where is the love then? Where is the love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God is love. God is therefore patient and kind…God is all that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And if we trust Him, then we obey Him. And if we obey Him, we love. We love like this. We love everyone like this.

That’s what obedience looks like. That’s part of it. If every single part of our lives was lived in obedience to God, our lives would be completely transformed. So I look around and I don’t see much love in action. Not this kind of love. I don’t see much obedience. Or trust. Even among those who call themselves Christians. Sometimes especially not among those who call themselves Christians.

I sometimes think we complicate things deliberately, because the whole idea of really trusting God and really obeying God is just too hard.

Well, you know, it really isn’t that simple.

Yes, it is. It really is.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.