19th March 2024

19th March 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 8v6-9)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


There is a time for everything under the sun (v6). We will enjoy both good and bad days but when time is tough we will feel the weight of our troubles upon our shoulders (v6b). We’ve all been there. Situations appear in our lives and they fill our minds with worry and they rob us of sleep at night. Well meaning loved ones tell us not to worry or to take it to the Lord and although we try, peace seems to always escape our grasp.


What causes such restlessness in our hearts? Solomon answers by reminding us of our limitations. Trouble lies heavy upon us because we don’t know what the future will bring (v7) and we have no real power in the face of life’s storms (v8). We worry endlessly about tomorrow because we don’t yet know what tomorrow will bring. All might be good but equally all might be bad and this tension often drives us to fret and worry. What makes this situation worse is we know that we are powerless in the face of death.


I have no ability to retain my spirit or decide the day of my death (v8a). I will die one day and although I hope it will be many years from now, it might be sooner than I wish. Additionally, if war rages around us we have no power to bring it to an end. Do you remember the man who stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square? Today we are not sure of his name or what happened to him but the tanks didn’t stop.


This sense of powerlessness isn’t unique to the righteous. Although it can appear that the wicked are flourishing, their wickedness cannot save them or help (v8b). The wise and the fool, the righteous and the wicked, all are finite and all are powerless. It is this reality that troubles us. I’d love to have all the answers and be able to fix every single problem but the true picture is that I am incredibly limited in knowledge and ability.


So am I a slave to the universe? Am I a subject to fate? Is life just a collection of random moments, some good and some bad? By no means. We are not immune to that sense of helplessness and frustration but we are certain that every single moment has been written by a good and gracious God. Do you remember what Psalm 139 says? “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139v15-16)


We can’t change tomorrow and we have no power over the day of our death. Regardless, even when we are aware of our limits we still trust a limitless God. He has written all the days of our lives and He is good. Brothers and sisters, hear me. He is good. The storms make no sense and life often hurts, but God is good and He is for His people. May your restlessness be met by rest in Christ, may your powerlessness come to know His abundant power.  


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q97 What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper? It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
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