Ecclesiastes - again

This week our old house group invited us back for the last in their series of studies on Ecclesiastes. They had invited in an "expert" to run through it. Paul Windsor is the Principal of Carey Bible College in Auckland. You would have to have read the book to make sense of my random jottings. i record them mostly for my own benefit before i forget but also because some of you expressed an interest in how we got on with the book.

His first observation which helped me relates to the format of the book and its themes. He described it as akin to a journal where an old man near the end of his life looks back over his life recording what he has seen and felt, giving advice for younger men/women.

Secondly he highlighted three key phrases -
1 - the NIV translates the word as "meaningless" - the Message uses the word "smoke". Paul liked the latter translation. He uses the image of our breath on a cold morning. It is both fleeting and weightless. This contrast to God who is eternal, beyond time and space.

2 - the word "gain" - i don't remember everything he said about this but he likened it to the accounting process. One of the main conclusions of the book is that at the end of our lives we will have to account to God for how we have lived. He will probably be looking for something more than I made a lot of money and had a good time!

3 - "under the sun" - this was one of his most helpful points for me. Paul described "under the sun" living as living with a lid on our heads. We don't look beyond the sun to He who created it. This remined me of a cosmologist I heard recently speaking on BBC Newsnight (via Podcast) about how advances in science were pointing more and more towards "intelligent design" rather than millions of random mutations from nothing. The universe is so delicately balanced in such a way that our earth can maintain life that it is almost as if someone intended it. He continues to look for a solution to this apparent problem because he has ruled out the idea of a creator God.

Paul summarised the writer of Ecclesiastes' conclusion from his life to be that life is full of many uncertainties and certainties. The uncertainties are to do with health, wealth, long life, early death etc. Those uncertainties lead him to the conclusion that it is best to get stuck in and enjoy life, get involved. Jesus would say live life to the full. However, you have to do it with the certainties in mind, which are that God will call us to account for He is sovereign. From the New Testament we can add the certainty of his grace through Jesus Christ who loves us and offers to settle our account with God.

That's it - a brief download and hopefully accurate representation of Paul's insights.

As for us, we are getting stuck into life here. Ian is back on the job market. He always said the job might be a 6 month stint. It all ended very positively. The whole job was God's amazing provision and His timing is impeccable as ever as we get to enjoy a holiday while Ian's Dad and step-Mum are with us. Hurrah!