Everything is Meaningless

This week I listened to a podcast by Erwin McManus from Mosaic Church. He spoke on Ecclesiastes, of all things... not a book you hear about all that often. In it, Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, pours out his observations, thoughts, doubts, and regrets regarding life and its meaninglessness. Depressing, perhaps, but sometimes it's refreshing to escape the everything-is-perfect-but-only-on-the-outside landscape so common in everyday life. I was particularly captivated by one concept Erwin shared:

'Solomon understood the human condition better than anyone else who has ever lived - and it led him to despair.'

Sometimes I feel like I can relate to that, albeit in only a small way. There are times when I struggle with despair - not today, of course, for struggles of that nature leave little room for blog posts and podcasts, or anything other than the hope to which one so desperately clings. But I've had glimpses of the depths to which people sometimes fall, as has anyone else that's been alive long enough. Personally, I'm no stranger to the pains of divorce, selfishness, depression, crippling anxiety. Yet at the same time I can't directly relate to the effects of abuse, alcoholism, war, famine, cancer...

And while I'm appreciative of how much longer the list of things I haven't experienced is, I often can't help thinking about my own list, the unimaginable grief it has caused me and the people around me, and the wretched, disparaging thought that most of the things not yet on my list sound worse - unbelievably worse. And so I find it hard to blame Solomon when he says [Eccl. 1:18]:

'For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.'

He realized how widespread, how varied, how devastating, and how unchanging man's capacity and propensity to do evil is - and he lost hope. And he claims the more we understand about life, people, history, what's to come... the more we will grieve as well.

Rather depressing, right? And plenty of times that's exactly where I'm at. But, fortunately for me, my moments of hopelessness are simply lapses in memory and will not lead to despair; for we have something now that Solomon did not back then - the New Testament.

'For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' Rom. 5:8

Solomon may have delved more deeply into the depths of the human soul than any other man that has ever lived, but even he was not omnipotent. God sees every evil action on earth, hears every harsh word, feels every selfish ambition, knows every twisted thought, grieves every sinister scheme, even those abandoned before fruition - He alone sees the true extents of our depravity.

And He is the only one who refuses to give up hope.

And that's where Solomon and I disagree. For here is something that does indeed have meaning.