Ecclesiastes 4 & 5

***Ecclesiastes 4***

The more we read of Ecclesiastes the more I think that the writer really needs a hug. Clearly he is depressed and having trouble finding the point of life. He says that the dead are happier than the living and the happiest are those who are never born.

I think we all can relate to that. Life is hard.

I listen to a lot of sports talk radio when I'm driving and recently I heard an interview with a retired football player. He said that when he was new in the league he was so afraid of getting cut from the team that he would sleep under his bed so that the coaches couldn't find him. He did this for years... slept under his bed to hide from bad news.

There are times when we all want to hide under our bed. Hide from doctors and what they might say, hide from our boss so that we can't be told that we no longer have a job, hide from bill collectors, hide from the mortgage company, hide from whatever bad news is coming. But the reality is we can not hide from life. And bad news comes, it hits hard and it hurts.

And we have to pick up the pieces and try to move on.

But there is great wisdom in these melancholy words. The wisdom of friendship, of community.

Life is too hard to make it through alone. We need each other. We need friends and family to pick us up when we fall. That's what love is... being there for each other in their times of need.

Do your friends know they can call you anytime no mater what? Do you know you can call your friends anytime no matter what?

If not, what's the point?


***Ecclesiastes 5***

An ancient Jewish Rabbi named Gamaliel used to say "Everything is decreed by God, except the fear of God."

We were all created in the image of God. But we were not created to be mindless robots, like a clone army. Instead God gave us free will and the ability to decide for ourselves how much we fear God.

Fear is a great motivator. In high school fear makes us do all kinds of things, like pretend to be someone we're not and do things we don't want to do to fit in... you know, peer pressure. As adults we fear all kinds of things, read my post for Ecclesiastes 4.

But do we fear God? Should we fear God?

I don't think we do fear God. In Jesus. God revealed to the world a love that is beyond comprehension, so when we think of God we think of love. How can we fear God when God loves us so much?

But I think we should fear God when we are God's enemies. And don't kid yourself, we are all God's enemy at one time or another.

When we are a part of oppression we are God's enemy. Never been a part of oppression? Where are the clothes you're wearing from? Do you know who made your shirt? Could it have been a 10 year old in China or Singapore? It's impossible to escape institutionalized oppression.

When we speak for God and our message is anything other than love, then we are God's enemy. Unless of course God has called you to be a prophet.

When we do what God has asked us not to do we are God's enemy. When we don't love our neighbors we are a force working against God's goal for humanity.

We should have a healthy fear of God. Enough fear to motivate us to fight for God's goals. To stand up to the oppression in our neighborhoods and around the world. Enough fear to think long and hard before we speak for God and enough fear to take God's commandments of love seriously.

It is only when we have a healthy fear of God that we can be truly grateful for grace. Grace saved us from something... Something bad, something to fear.

Thank you Lord for being powerful enough to punish us and loving enough not to. Amen.