Wisdom From Ecclesiastes for 2024
On the final Sunday of 2023, our family worshipped in Arcola with our friends at MMRBC . The Old Testament reading came from Ecclesiastes 7. There is so much in that chapter, but in this post I'll restrain myself to verse 10. It says, Say not, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Looking and longing for the "good ole days" is not a character trait of the wise, according to Scripture. We all understand this tendency (perhaps in recent years more than ever). There is this temptation to look back on a previous golden age with longing that is accompanied by self-pity or despair at the loss of it. This could be longing for days when our own lives were simpler or it could be yearning for a former period in history when things just seemed better. And then we can end up vexing ourselves as we wonder how it has come to this and why things had to change. And this is obviously not a new temptation as it was worth addres...