Godward Toil

My weariness is normal...and lifts my eyes

More encouragement from Ecclesiastes.  The verses I included in my previous post had one phrase that I did not mention, but which later brought me comfort:

All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;  (Ecc 1:8)

Later in the same chapter, we read this:

And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecc 1:13b-14)

I often get discouraged about how much apparently meaningless nonsense I have to spend my day dealing with.  There are two truths that encourage me about this at different times.  One truth is that God is sovereign over all that "nonsense" and is working every bit of it for my good (Roman 8). The other is the truth contained in this Ecclesiastes passage:  that the normal human experience involves being busy with unhappy business.   Marvelously, these two truths can work together to lift our eyes to heaven!   God is working in every detail of this world.  The world is full of unhappy striving. God is keeping me and moving me ever onward toward ever increasing joy in his glory in heaven!  

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.  (Romans 8:19-24a)

Lord, help me hold on to a vision of heaven, as I muddle and groan in the world today.

You're list will never get shorter!

One of the principles I appreciate about GTD, and often remind people when I'm counseling them about living more productivity for God, is that your list will never get shorter.  God is always working, His kingdom is always advancing, the world is always decaying.  So every time you cross something off, something new will appear.   One of the first rules I share with people (and try to remind myself every day) is "Give up the fantasy of completion."

In my daily Bible reading, I came across this passage in Ecclesiastes which caused me to meditate, once again, on this principle:

All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
Ecc 1:7-8

The work I have to do in my life--for my job, for my ministry, for my family--is like the streams running to the sea, and sound going to the ear.    If the stream had as its goal to fill up the ocean and be done, it would be sorely disappointed, and badly confused about its purpose.   That doesn't mean that the stream's work isn't important;  it's essential.  It's just that the goal is not clearing my list, any more than the goal of listening to music or of looking at my wife as to fill my ears and eyes so that they don't ever need to listen or look again.

Praise the Lord for his wise and perfect Word, sufficient for every circumstance of life!