SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/14/2013
9:26 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Nothing is
Changed
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl. 1:4-7
Message of the
verses: Since there are only twelve
chapters in the book of Ecclesiastes and thirteen chapters in Dr. Wiersbe’s
commentary on Ecclesiastes, (Be
Satisfied), he chose to use the first two chapters in his book to comment
on the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s SD he
has entitled it “Living in Circles.”
There was a Disney movie that came out a few years ago that actually had
a New Age monkey in it, and it was entitled “The Lion King.” Anyway in the movie they kept talking about “The
Circle of Life,” and that is what Solomon is talking about in the rest of
chapter one of Ecclesiastes, but we must remember that he is speaking about
things that are under the sun and not above the sun.
Dr. Wiersbe ends his introduction on this chapter in his
commentary with these words, “But this ‘cyclical’ view of life was a burden to
Solomon. For if life is only part of a
great cycle over which we have no control, is life worth living? If this cycle is repeated season after
season, century after century, why are we unable to understand it and explain
it? Solomon pondered these questions as
he looked at the cycle of life ‘under the sun,’ and he came to three bleak
conclusions: nothing is changed (1:4-7),
nothing is new (1:8-11), and nothing is understood (1:12-18).” Today we will look at the first part “Nothing
is Changed.”
“4 ¶ A generation
goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. 5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And
hastening to its place it rises there again. 6
Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind
continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. 7 All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea
is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.”
As we read these verses we can see the scientific Solomon
writing here, looking at things as if he was a scientist, as king questions
about four pieces of evidence to prove that nothing really changes. We will begin with the earth as seen in verse
four.
The earth (vs. 4): “4 ¶ A
generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.” I realize that Solomon did not have the
advantage to really know the end of God’s plan for planet earth as Peter spoke
of in 2Peter 3:10: “But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar
and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its
works will be burned up.” God had not
revealed this to Solomon, but later on it was revealed to the Church in Peters
writing. However many people who now and
who have lived on planet earth have never heard of this and so the rely on the
earth being stable and therefore being here forever. The problem is one of the things that Solomon
has introduced and will continue to look at through this book and that is that
life is short and then people die, but now we see that he states that the earth
will be here forever. Thomas Carlyle
called history “a might drama, enacted upon the theater of time, with suns for
lamps and eternity for a background.”
Dr. Wiersbe states that “Solomon would add that the costumes and sets
may occasionally change, but the actors and the script remain pretty much the
same; and that’s as sure as the world.”
The sun (vs. 5): “Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And
hastening to its place it rises there again.”
Now we know from modern science and space travel that the sun does not
rise or set, but the earth is rotating so it seems that the sun rises and
sets. However we can look at newspapers
or on the internet to see exactly what Solomon is talking about as they give
details of the rising and setting of the sun each day.
When God made the heavens and the earth He also made the
sun and the stars in order to bring glory to His name, and also to give us
time, for where God lives, in heaven, there is no time, but God created time
when He placed the earth in its orbit around the sun, as it takes 24 hours to
make one rotation of the earth and 365 days for the earth to make a rotation
around the sun. Dr. Wiersbe points out
that “Solomon pictures the sun rising in the east and ‘panting’ (literal
translation) its way across the sky in pursuit of the western horizon.” As far as the heavens are concerned it is
just another day, and nothing more.
The Wind (vs. 6): “Blowing toward the south, Then turning
toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular
courses the wind returns.” The sun is visible,
but the wind is not visible. Jesus
states “’The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do
not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born
of the Spirit.’” We see the effects of
the wind, but we do not see the wind.
Solomon was not giving a lecture on physics on the wind, rather, he was
stating that the wind is in constant motion as it follows circuits, but man
cannot understand it.
The point he was making is that the wind is the same as
it always was over the centuries, however man comes an goes.
The Sea (vs. 7): “All
the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the
rivers flow, There they flow again.” His
description in this section is the water cycle, and that is what sustains life
on planet earth. Scientists tell us that
at any given time 97% of all the water on earth is in the oceans, but only
.0001% is in the atmosphere which is available for rain or snow whatever the
case may be. The cooperation of the sun
and the wind makes it possible for the evaporation of the water to make the moisture
go up into the heavens and make rain in the clouds. While living on the island of Kauai I could
see this process at most any time of the day as the rain would come down in the
mountains and then go right back up into what looked like fog, but it was
actually clouds forming.
What we see from all these things the earth, the heavens,
the winds or the waters we can come to the same conclusion and that is nature
does not change. We can imagine why
Solomon sites that this is all a part of the monotony of life.
This is all true if we just look at life under the sun,
but we as believers must look at life about the sun so we don’t leave God out
of the picture. God does break into
nature from time to time as we can see from different Scriptures. In Joshua 10:6-14 se see that God actually
stopped the sun so Joshua could finish his battle with the enemies of Israel. In Isa. 38:1-8 we see that God made the sun
go backwards, (in fact it was the earth that had to go backwards) for
Hezekiah. We also saw in Exodus that God
opened the Red Sea so that Israel could go through it on dry ground and then
the Jordan River was stopped so Israel could cross it in order to get into the
Promised Land. In Mark 4:35-41 we see
Jesus calming the storm, and don’t forget what will happen to nature in
Revelations 6-19 which takes up the tribulation period.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have been
looking at different attributes of God in the verses that I am studying and in
this section I can see the power of God along with His wisdom as He controls
these different aspects we have been looking at.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to study the attributes of God so
that I can continue to learn more about the God whom I love and worship.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:7-11
7 Your are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah. 8 I will instruct you and
teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon
you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the
mule which has no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to keep
them in check, otherwise they will not come near you. 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he
who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround you. 11 Be glade in the LORD and rejoice, your righteous ones; and shout for joy,
all you who are upright in heart.
Answer to Yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Babel” (Genesis 11:9)
Today’s Bible
Question: “What was the name of the son
born to Abraham and Hagar?
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
4/14/2013 10:21 PM
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