27th January 2024

27th January 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 3v11)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


I have no idea why I studied Computer Science at University. Whilst I had some interest in computers, my real passion at that stage was history. I know history isn't for everyone but I can get lost in a history book and find certain periods of human history fascinating. Yet the study of history isn't just an exercise in learning facts about the past, history also speaks to the present and future. It was George Santayana who famously said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” or in other words we would do well to learn history's lessons so that we can avoid history's mistakes.


Humanity is alone in it's desire to understand history and in it's wondering about tomorrow. Consider your dog, she doesn't care about the fall of the Roman empire but she does get excited when she hears the word "walk" The birds in the sky know nothing about Winston Churchill but do know that there is a nice lady who feeds them with crusts. Animals do not consider the past and don't go to bed worrying about tomorrow - these are uniquely human pursuits.


Why is this so? Because God has put eternity into our hearts (v11). Sometimes this has been taken to mean that humans know there is a heaven and long for it with some kind of wistful ache. Whilst that is a nice thought, we know it isn't true for everyone. Instead, Solomon wrote to explain the wonderings of the human heart. We read and study the past, we contemplate our place in today's world and we think and dream about the future. Humanity has eternity in it's heart and yet we still cannot figure out the immensity of God's eternal plan (v11b).


It is humbling to realise that we are always operating without the full information. Do you remember when your dad refused to look at the instructions and insisted that he would build the Ikea bookcase without help? We're all like that. We have but a tiny picture of human history and the plans of Almighty God. We do not know what it was like in the beginning and we have no clue about the exact time of the end. If human history was a thousand page book, we have been given just three words from page six hundred and thirty two.


But thanks be to God for while we don't know it all, we know enough. Paul would write "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4v4-5) I do not know what it was like when God called the universe into existence and I can only imagine the day that a human being sets foot on Mars but I do know what Christ did in "the fullness of time" Jesus lived, died and rose so that all who trust in Him have a glorious eternity. You can't know everything but you can know Christ. Call upon Him while it is still called today.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q53 Which is the third commandment? The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
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