I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all which is done under the heavens. It is a sad task God has given to the sons of men to be humbled by it. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. What is crooked cannot be made straight; and that lacking cannot be numbered. I spoke within my own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I know that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. (Ecc 1:12-18)
It seems that for every gain there is an unequal, disproportionate loss. We gain the freedom to speak and lose the freedom to think. We gain the knowledge to cure diseases and use it to destroy our health and minds and spirits. We invent the means for unprecedented wealth and luxury by mortgaging generations to come.
It is a sorrowful pasttime indeed to search God’s words for meaning and purpose in this bleak morass. There are so many things beyond our control. God told us that “the poor shall never cease out of the land,” that there will be war, disease, and famine. Why would God do such things?
It is an invalid question.
So says YHWH, ‘Where is your mother’s bill of divorce, whom I have put away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother is put away for your sins. Who knows why I have come, and no one is here? I called and no one answered. Is My hand shortened at all so that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.’ (Isa 50:1-3)
God didn’t do this to us. If God wanted us to suffer, do you think he couldn’t do better than government oppression, runaway inflation, or a little coastal storm damage? We haven’t seen God’s wrath yet. There will be no mistaking it when it comes. Yet even then our problems will be of our own design. We sold ourselves into debt. We stopped up our own ears. We murdered our own children. He didn’t make us do any of that.
There is a solution. Though the rain will fall on the righteous and wicked alike, and there are certain to be hard times, we still have a shelter.
The Lord YHWH has given Me the tongue of the learned, to know to help the weary with a word. He wakens morning by morning, He wakens the ear to hear as the learned. The Lord YHWH has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor turned away backwards. I gave My back to the strikers, and My cheeks to pluckers; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord YHWH will help Me; therefore I have not been ashamed. On account of this I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together; who is master of My judgment? Let him come near Me. Behold, the Lord YHWH will help Me; who is he who shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wear out like a garment; the moth shall eat them. Who among you fears YHWH, who obeys the voice of His servant, who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of YHWH and rest on his God. (Isa 50:4-10)
When the Messiah returns the nations will be required to celebrate Sukkot in his honor. Those who listen and obey will be blessed with health, fertility, and abundance. Those who do not, will not. It might be a Hobson’s choice, but we were given three thousand years to contemplate our answer. Have we heard the question?