“Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”?”
Ecclesiastes 1:10
Most of us have seen films like ‘Groundhogs Day’, where the main character gets stuck in a time-loop; a never-ending, self-repeating day that seems inescapable. The cause of the time-trap always has something to do with the persons need for redemption or some other critical life-lesson. Typically, the characters try to fix the problem through a long, usually comical, series of adjustments to their thinking, actions or behavior. Inevitably their efforts end in vain, and they find themselves waking up to the same day over and over. Finally, the story ends with the character overcoming only after they’ve discovered some deeper profound meaning or truth they never would’ve discovered otherwise.
The book of Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament of the Bible, is kind of the original ‘Groundhogs Day’ story. Only it is viewed not from the perspective of one person’s battle with an imaginary time-loop, but from the very real perspective of humanity’s struggle to find meaning in the cycle of life as a whole.
Ecclesiastes is unique in that it is the only book in the Bible that looks at life from the perspective of someone who has removed God from its equation. For example, Eccl. 1:14 says, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
Ecclesiastes deals with the mundanity of life ‘under the sun’, or in other words, within our limited senses. Another verse from Ecclesiastes, asks, “Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”?” The author explores ideas like ‘purpose’, ‘time’, ‘death’ and ‘injustice’. He asks hard questions that are still being asked by countless people today. Especially around New Years.
New Years is when everyone is looking for a ‘new… something’. We don’t even know what it is we want much of the time, but it needs to be new! It can be a new relationship, workout plan, diet, or job. Anything that will make the start of a new year different than the old year we just finished. Something that marks progress. New Years is just an amplified version of what most people long for every day of the year; purpose and meaning. It’s why some people push the boundaries of their limitations. It’s part of the reason why so many are addicted to our devices. We feed on notifications, messages, tweets, posts. Always looking for the next video, photo, feed, to stimulate the senses. Meanwhile we fight off the nagging sense that it’s all really just more of the same. No matter how slick the paint job, no matter how clever the packaging, no matter how much faster, louder or efficiently something is done, it all really the same in the end. In spite of AI, and every other revolutionary change that technology has brought about, wars continue, children starve, good people die, bad people thrive. Time marches on, promising to forget us, rich and poor, young or old, black or white. Of course, evolutionary theory is happy to throw its weight onto the scale, claiming life is no more than the turning of so many inconsequential cogs in the cosmic machine.
So, are no more than those movie characters, stuck in some cruel time-loop ? Is there nothing more than what we see ‘under the sun’? Is there no purpose? No justice?
Ecclesiastes’ rather fatalistic world view seems to suggest that all is ‘vanity’, ’emptiness’, and ‘grasping after the wind’.
Interestingly, after several chapters of such dark contemplations, Ecclesiastes ends with a surprising conclusion. Whether it comes as good news or bad depends on what you choose to believe.
Like our time-loop storylines, Ecclesiastes states that there is a profound life-changing truth that will ultimately be revealed in the end. The last two verses of the book read, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Here the author is ultimately saying that our hunger to always be experiencing something ‘new’ is driven by our need for purpose. The frustration we inevitably face comes from the simple fact that the physical world can only provide limited satisfaction before it starts getting old and repetitive. However high we fly, or deep we dive; however fast or far we go, eventually we grow restless for something new. Why? The Bible teaches we are not just body and soul. We are spirit. We are spiritual creatures, created in the ‘image of God’. The Bible teaches that we can never know true satisfaction, until our spirits are reconciled and satisfied in God.
Jesus said, “What will it profit a man, if gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” As beautiful as the world is, as expansive as the universe is, as amazing as the accomplishments of man may be, they can never substitute for a living relationship with the God who created it all.
After declaring that everything ‘under the sun’ is meaningless, he points us to Him who is ‘above and beyond the sun’. He points to Him who is eternal, to Him who alone knows and judges the hearts of all mankind.
As you step into this new year, I beg you to consider the words of Jesus Christ. He said in John 7:37-39 “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit…” Jesus claimed that He alone could forgive us of our sins, restore us to God through the impartation of His Spirit. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” It is through Jesus’ sinless life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection from the dead that we will break out of the cycle of sin we are trapped in.
Are you thirsty for life? For purpose? For meaning? For freedom? Are you ready to end the numbing cycle of emptiness that the world is stuck in? Put your faith in Jesus! Surrender your life to Him. Ask him to fill you with His Spirit and experience the reality of a truly new life; a newness that not only flows from within but will infuse everything without with new meaning and fulfillment.
By Pastor Tim Mattox
Paphos Calvary Chapel
www.calvarycyprus.com
