Worship for Today: God sends his Son for us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14,

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

 

After relieving us our assumptions about finding purpose, meaning, fulfillment, ultimate happiness in this life "under the sun", Solomon brings us his conclusion to the matter. "Fear God and keep his commandments..." With a reverence and fear of the great Judge, we are told to keep his commands. Of course, these are the very ones we find ourselves unable to keep.

 

What a dilemma! Not only will we not find that which we were created for in this life, that which constitutes the fulfillment of the deepest yearning of our hearts in this life, we will not find ourselves able to order our lives by the laws God gave us. Of keeping the law Paul said, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Romans 7:14-20.

 

Solomon has stripped us of any fantasy of finding lasting fulfillment in this life and laid down the gauntlet, which keeps us at odds with the only one who can meet our needs: our Creator. Here Solomon has masterfully set the table for us. We have a heartfelt need for our Creator and we find ourselves estranged from him. God is beyond our reach.

 

But, God so loved the world! He sent his Son to us to make a way to what our hearts truly desire. When Jesus came to planet earth he said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Here is the answer! An invitation is given us through the gospel message! Jesus Christ is the way to God. Jesus Christ is the way to the resurrection of life, eternal and abundant. Jesus Christ is the one who can bring what satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts and to rescue us from God's coming wrath for sin!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Emptiness in the world, fullness with God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 9:5-6,

"The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."

 

Solomon goes where most of us dread to go: he is so honest about this life that what he has to say could be couched with that famous movie phrase, "You can't handle the truth!" Here he points out that life under the sun is futile in that it is no more than a revolving door. We're in and then we're out of this life. We enter it, experience it, have our perspectives on it, reflected in our loves, our hates, our jealousies, but then we just vanish, we die.

 

How well do any of us know family members from three to four generations back? Think of all there was to their lives and now it is all gone. They have long since vanished, "even the memory of them is forgotten". Little is known of them, other than a spot on the family tree and maybe just several pieces of only very public information: who they were married to, where they lived, when they came over from the old world, what war they served in, date of birth, date of death, and not much else.

 

What were they like? Were they grumpy when they got up in the morning? Did they like children and dogs? What were their favorite meals? Did they have strong political feelings? Were they religious? Did they like the outdoors? Were they fun to be with, have a great sense of humor? There may be a few anecdotes, but the reality is that as a whole person, "even the memory of them is forgotten" when it comes to know what they were truly like. The same will happen to us. Our children and grandchildren will talk about us, but after time, we will all be forgotten, with few notable exceptions. Not much more than a space in some one's genealogy with a few facts preserved. That's about it.

 

Non-existence can be a terrifying thought upon reflection and that is just what we face from the perspective of "life under the sun." We come and after too few years, we go. Round and round the world spins and from this perspective our lives seem so small, so insignificant. Again, Solomon is clearing the decks for the coming gospel message. If we allow ourselves to be distracted by all there is "under the sun", we will miss what our hearts truly yearn for. We don't want to be just an entry in some future genealogy. We want to live and have our lives filled with purpose and meaning. This world cannot provide it, so life under the sun is meaningless as an experience to bring what it is our hearts yearn for.

 

But... God so loves us, even though we have turned our backs on him in sin and rebellion and gone our own way, he sent his Son to die for us, to reconcile us to himself. He offers us a place at the table in his family, abundant eternal life with meaning and purpose, eternal pleasures at his right hand! He offers us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for each of us.

 

The world, "what happens under the sun", cannot bring us what we really want. But God can and loves us so much he provides it to us! All he asks is that we trust in him.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God rescues the powerless.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 8:7-8a,

"Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death."

 

For each of us, we have no idea what the future holds. We know of some future events that will take place: the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth, the resurrection of the dead, eternal life for those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith. We know these things because they have been told to us in the Scriptures. But what will take place tomorrow is hidden from us. We may enjoy something wonderful or we may face some horrific event. It may be our last day in this life "under the sun". We just don't know.

 

The Lord knows, of course. We are told he knows the end from the beginning. Not only does he know what will take place for each of us tomorrow, as believers, we know that he intends whatever it is for our good. The well-known passage from Romans 8:28 comes to mind, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

 

Although there is great assurance to be found in this, in our "life under the sun", it pales in comparison to the powerful assurance we have for judgment day, a day coming for us all. All sinners will be cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8. For those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, our sins have been paid for and we look forward to an eternity with our Lord: eternal pleasures at his right hand. Psalm 16:11.

 

At times I hear that Jesus Christ is a crutch for those who need one in this life. The point being made that Christians are the weakest among people and unable to cope with the challenges of life without a crutch. While I whole-heartedly agree that Christians find in Jesus Christ a refuge and strength, the choice of those who have embraced him has been made for other another reason. We will all need rescue on judgment day to escape that fiery lake of burning sulfur. Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins. On that day, no one who rejected Jesus Christ will avoid being cast into this horrific judgment. "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Revelation 21:8.

 

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:11-15.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God is just.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 7:15,

"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness."

 

Here is a theme that is seen from time to time in the Scriptures. On the one hand we read what Solomon had to say in Proverbs 15:24, "The path of life leads upward for the wise to keep him from going down to the grave." Yet, in Ecclesiastes he speaks of the righteous man perishing in his righteousness and a wicked man living long in his wickedness. Asaph made similar observations, "I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills." Psalm 73:3-5.

 

Asaph goes on to say that when he observed this in life, it was "oppressive" to him. It perplexed and vexed him. But when he drew near to God in worship he understood something he had no way of seeing otherwise. He says, "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies."

 

What isn't observed "under the sun", that which Solomon made note of, is resolved in the next life. The wicked face the day of judgment while the righteous are rewarded. God's justice will be satisfied, completely and fully. Observing this, Solomon's father, David, says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Psalm 37:7-11.

 

God is just and the righteous will be blessed. The wicked will suffer. Maybe not in "life under the sun", but judgment day is coming. This could not have been demonstrated more forcefully than the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The only way there will be any "righteous" that will escape God's justice in the resurrection is through faith in Jesus Christ. He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. For any of us to be found righteous in the resurrection, payment had to be made for sins committed. Our loving Lord did just that!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Our ignorance, God's reach.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 8:17,

"No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it."

 

We are born sinners. No matter how cute, cuddley and innocent our babies appear to us, they are born with a sinful nature awaiting its opportunity to blossom. Although we love them dearly, as does the Lord, I suspect most of us disabuse ourselves of the notion of their sinlessness when they hit the "terrible twos". Not only do we all enter this life as sinners, we are born into a cursed and fallen world, estranged from God, held captive by a collective sinful nature the Scriptures calls "the world".

 

Because of this state of affairs, we struggle with our understanding of things. Our hearts, influenced by our sinful nature and the world often lead us astray. The Lord tells us in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" One way our hearts lead us astray is we often view this life as all there is. We look to see how we can satisfy ourselves and seek out our best in this life without consideration of the next. As Paul discusses those who reject the gospel he puts it this way, "for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." Romans 2:8. A way we decieve ourselves is in the thinking that those things that are just beyond us can bring us happiness and satisfaction, a fulfillment our hearts yearn for. We seem to be driven by notions of more money, more accomplishment and more of those things that offer us pleasure will bring us this fulfillment we are driven to find.

 

This book of Ecclesiastes, I believe, one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible, is devoted to this very issue. Solomon, often accused of writing it at an elderly age, having indulged himself with what God told him not to, writes this book from the perspective of a man bitter at life, disgusted and discouraged due to his sin. I couldn't disagree more. Through Solomon, a man of faith, a man that God himself equipped for the very task, God is communicating to us that happiness and fulfillment is not to be found in this lost and fallen world, this world estranged from God and given to its sinful proclivities: "life under the sun". It is a message very relelant for our day. So lost is this message, that when presented to us by Solomon we miss the point and criticize him for being disgruntled and discouraged. Whether this book or any other book of Scripture, I am driven by Peter's observation, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

 

No, Ecclesiastes is not a book of observations made by an old, disgruntled and discouraged man. It is a message to us from God himself, a message he wants us to know. Afterall, God himself is the one who inspired Solomon to say, "No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it." Our misunderstanding of the book only proves the point!

 

But more importantly, I am just astonished at the lengths God has gone to help us overcome our ignorance to help us find him in the truth of the gospel messge.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The day of death vs. birth.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 7:1,

"A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth."

 

I have to admit, I'm not sure what Solomon intended to point to here, but here are the thoughts this verse generated in my mind:

 

This is a fascinating verse. The first half of the verse points to something easy to see and accept: to recognize someone as good certainly has the effect of enhancing their winsome stature among others. It is the second half of the verse that is an eyebrow raiser. "the day of death" is "better than the day of birth."

 

We celebrate the arrival of our new-borns and mourn the loss when a loved one dies. We all have built within us the will to live, to exist and to maintain our lives as long as we can. We believe that life is a precious gift that finds its sanctity in the reality that it is God himself who has provided it.

 

Paul spoke to this issue about his own life. He said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far... " Philippians 1:21-23. Paul was in agreement with Solomon.

 

The perspective for this has to transcend Solomon's scope for his experiments. To have a fuller perspective we need to view life as we have been taught in the Scriptures. Life extends beyond the grave. As we read of the resurrection, we recognize that death is merely a doorway that ushers believers right into the very presence of the Lord himself. There we enter into the eternal phase of life that is not marked by an estrangement from God. There we will not be living under God's curse and the collective sinful nature of humanity. There we will experience eternal pleasures at the right hand of God, Psalm 16:11. There we will not face death any longer, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more pain. Fullness of life, purposefulness of existence, a richness that will only be available where our lives conform to all God designed us for.

 

The day of death for believers is better than the day of birth. It signals the end of this life - terminating in the birth of the next. For the unbeliever, no day is good.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: "Here is a trustworthy saying"...

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 7:16-18,"

 

Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise— why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes."

 

"Moderation in all things..." Here is a passage that is sure to perplex the do-gooders among us. Solomon says that being "overrighteous" and "overwicked" result in destruction, premature death. What are we to make of such a passage?

 

Surely, if doing something that is "righteous" is a good thing, then doing it more so, has to be better? I suspect there is little controversy over the dangers of being "overwicked". But the thought, "It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other" can be perplexing as well. The God fearer who avoids all extremes is a comment that certainly has the the ring of wisdom to it, but what to make of the other statements?

 

While I can see that most good or righteous traits become bad traits when exercised to the extreme (e.g. thrift becomes miserliness, tolerance becomes acquiescence, etc.) these verses certainly challenge me.

 

For me, shrugging off Solomon as an old man and unreliable in this book will never do as I struggle in my understanding of it. I am reminded that "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16. Peter tells me that what Solomon had to write here was provided by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. I will embrace what the Scriptures have to say and recognize that I'm somewhat slow and somewhat of a plodder when it comes to understanding many passages I read. Although I take little comfort in my ability to understand the Scriptures, I take great assurance in what God does have to say. My understanding may be unreliable at times, but God is always reliable and truthful in what he has to say.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Treasure that endures.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 5:15,

 

"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand."

 

From the perspective of life under the sun, this truth is painfully obvious. What we work a lifetime to build and acquire, it all gets left behind when we leave this life. While this is certainly a disturbing state of affairs when given reflection, the good news is that "life under the sun" is altogether a limited perspective. Solomon is showing us what we yearn for cannot be found here with lasting satisfaction.

 

As believers in Jesus Christ we have a much broader perspective. This life we live, from womb to tomb, "life under the sun" is only a smidgen of what we see. We have within our perspective life eternal beyond the grave. From the resurrection we will look back on this chapter of our lives as incredibly significant, as it determines our state of affairs in the next, but yet it will seem, I suspect, extremely short - just  a moment, compared to life measured in eternal terms. What we gain through the fruit of our labor in the resurrection will not be left behind.

 

While this is wonderful news, there is even more. Because we have a perspective beyond what Solomon reports on in Ecclesiastes, there is more to say of the issue. Jesus taught, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Matthew 6:19-20. We can, in this life under the sun, work for what will be waiting for us in the resurrection. These things we will carry in hand, into eternity.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ is the satisfaction of our appetites.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 6:7,

"All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied."

 

Here is a great summation of Solomon's thesis: life "under the sun" simply does not satisfy, hence it is "meaningless". Burning within the heart of man is a hunger, a yearning for things not found in this life. When we think of mankind's existence with his Creator in the garden, the proximity and interaction with God himself, it is exactly that which we miss as we are left in this lost and fallen world, estranged from our Creator, missing what we were created for. Fellowship with God. Here is where the answers lay for all the classical questions asked by the philosopher. "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" "Where am I going?" "Why am I here?" None of these questions had to be asked in the garden.

 

Coupled with a sinful nature, this yearning produces the common ills known to man: addictive behaviors, sexual promiscuity, coveting what others have, the quest for fame, fortune and power. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We have a gaping vacuum in our hearts, that God shaped gaping hole, that seeks to be filled in our sinfulness by looking in all the wrong places. And yet, "his appetite is never satisfied."

 

But God is to be found. He has revealed himself to us! The cause of the glorious and inexpressible joy believers have is in the finding of that which satisfies. The satisfaction of what our hearts yearn for is found in Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of that yearning is what David calls "eternal pleasures" at the right hand of the Lord, joy in his presence. Psalm 16:11. Our Savior beckons us to give up the quest for finding what satisfies in this life, it is not to be found here, in life under the sun, as Solomon amply proves in this book. What truly satisfies is found in the resurrection, in Jesus Christ, in a place at his table. Here is where appetites are satisfied!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's activity in our lives.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:2,

"Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead."

 

Aside from Solomon's point here, I have to admit that my perspective on God is that he is close to each one of us, very close, but that he does not involve himself frequently in the activities of an individual. I do believe in prayer and I believe that God will intercede on behalf of someone as he sees fit, especially in answer to prayer as Jesus taught us, but my perspective has always been that God just does not tinker in our lives a whole lot. Then, I read a passage like the above and have to admit that my perspective needs adjusting.

 

Look at what Solomon says about the Lord's potential involvement in a person's life in this passage: God is the one who gives man "the few days" of his life. God gives wealth and possessions. Not only does he give them but he enables a man to enjoy them. God also enables someone to be happy in his work, as a gift. God might keep someone occupied with gladness of heart, but, on the other hand, he might not enable a man to enjoy the things he has given him.

 

From this passage, not only do I see God as being very close to each one of us, he can also be quite active in our lives, and from passages like this one, I see that he can be very active.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The doorway of death.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 2:12-16,

"Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done? I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both. Then I thought in my heart, 'The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?' I said in my heart, 'This too is meaningless.' For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!"

 

"Like the fool, the wise man too must die!" Here is the ultimate frustration of life. We all die! There is simply no escaping it. Both the wise and the fool must die, the faithful and the irreligious, those who seek God and those who are self-seeking: all must die.  Considered from the perspective Solomon chose for his experiment, the perspective of "life under the sun", it has tremendous impact on just what we should expect from this life. The accurate conclusion is that life itself, considered from this perspective is meaningless, empty, vain.

 

For life to have meaning, fullness and purpose, the perspective must transcend this life "under the sun". Apart from God, apart from the life he designed us for, life in the resurrection, Solomon's observations are truthful and accurate. This lost and fallen world, existing under God's curse is populated by people who are all headed for death. Sickness, disease, pain, discouragement, disappointment abound in this world. Those who don't see it are simply not looking. Solomon looked and has provided us a comprehensive and accurate conclusion to the matter.

 

This should prepare us to look beyond ourselves, to look beyond this life. Death is but a doorway and the choices we make in this life hold critical importance for life beyond "under the sun". We will all face God's judgment following this life and those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith in this life "under the sun" will find forgiveness of sins and a place at the table with Jesus Christ in the next. There we will encounter the pleasures God intended for us at his right hand, Psalm 16:11, and joy in his presence! All this provided us by Jesus Christ out of his unfathomable love for us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Healing our hearts.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 2:1-3,

"I thought in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.' But that also proved to be meaningless. 'Laughter,' I said, 'is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?' I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives."

 

This may be a bit afield from the passage, but the passage brings this thought to my mind: Solomon was a man of faith. He also had a special gifting of wisdom from God. Nevertheless, he had a corrupt heart as well. All men are born with corrupted hearts. From the fall of mankind in the garden, the heart of man is deceitful. As is asked in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Testing his heart, Solomon was never going to find that which is satisfying, "what is good". A corrupt heart is an unruly customer to satisfy and please. As Solomon had to say in another book he wrote, "He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." Proverbs 28:26.

 

The gospel that Jesus Christ brought is a gospel of hope, a way for all of us to escape the corruption bound up in our hearts. The concept of being "born again", John 3:3, or "regenerated", "renewed", Titus 3:5, speaks to me of the wonderful and mystical work the Holy Spirit does in our hearts when we become children of God. Our hearts become renewed as the Holy Spirit begins his life-changing work within us. As we learn from the Scriptures, it is not a work that becomes complete this side of the resurrection, but the good news is that it begins the minute we embrace Jesus Christ in faith. Then, on that wonderful, bright resurrection morning, we will all arise with a newness of heart that reflects the very character and nature of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. In the meantime we look for that fruit the Holy Spirit produces at the present time, Galatians 5:22-23.

 

Is this something God had to do for us? Is it something due us from him? Not at all! This is simply another of God's wonderful love and boundless grace he expresses to us as his children: his desire to heal our hearts!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Fulfilment in our inheritance!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 1:4-9,

"Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

 

"Round and round it goes..." The world we live in continues on as it has done for millennia. Solomon wrote this three millennia ago! He finds existence here in this life, "under the sun", wearisome where people just cannot satisfy their appetites. As Solomon writes on he will point to the reality that though the world goes round and round, we have a very short shelf-life, bringing him frustration and vexation.

 

I firmly believe the point behind Ecclesiastes is to help prepare us for the gospel message. Solomon takes an honest look at this life, "under the sun" and points to its futility, "Meaningless! Meaningless!" "A chasing after the wind." The human heart yearns for existence, purpose, meaning and happiness. What many folks shy from, Solomon faces boldly. Those important issues man yearns for simply cannot be found here in this life at a satisfying level. Our yearning, properly focused, should cause us to look elsewhere. Others have and have found what they looked for. The Scriptures speak of an inheritance for all those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith. An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, promised and reserved for us in heaven by God.

 

Here is found the purpose for which our God created us! Here is where justice and equity reign! Here is where happiness is found! No more sickness, pain or death. No more disappointment, no more deprivation. Fulfilment of our greatest desires await us in our rich inheritance purchased for us by our loving Savior! 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's judgment.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 1:13,

 

"I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!"

 

Whatever Solomon references when he speaks of the "burden God has laid on men", it speaks to the issue of sinful man suffering the consequences of turning from God. Solomon may have been observing that knowledge requires a heavy burden to attain, that it is simply not easy for man to acquire, or it might have been the conclusion of the matter Solomon came to: life under the sun is a futile affair. Both come from God's judgment of man in the garden of Eden.

 

This points to one of God's essential qualities, his justice. In Jeremiah 9:24 we read. "I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight." Although Adam and Eve were given fair warning from God, they nevertheless turned from him. The consequences of this are simply immeasurable. God is to be feared, he is to be revered and he is not to be trifled with. Mankind has reaped the consequences - just as God had warned him.

 

Such is our God. He is straight forward, unambiguous. Just as all has happened as he said it would in the past, so all yet to come will happen just as he has said it will.

 

Although the consequences of man's sin are immeasurable, God's love for us is not. It's height, its depth, its length and its width is measured in the horrific death of his Son, Jesus Christ, to secure our pardon from God's justice, to make a way for us to become his children with a rich inheritance we can look forward to.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ecclesiastes 1:15,

 

"What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted."

 

Solomon speaks to a hard, cold reality that some simply run from: the futility of what we face in this life. He makes clear what his perspective is in the preceding verse. There he says, "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." As Solomon speaks, he does so from the perspective of this life. This life, "under the sun" is futile. "What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted."

 

As Solomon continues in his presentation, he amply demonstrates why this life, from the perspective of this life (again, "under the sun") is filled with futility. Without shying away from the realities we all encounter in this life, he points to a secret that few know.

 

This secret is that all of those things we think will bring us happiness and fulfillment in this life (life under the sun) do not deliver. "If I could only find a wife", "If I could only get into this college", "If I could only get this promotion" or "that job". "If I could only make more money", "get the toys I want", have what my friend or neighbor has (that "grass is greener" thing...). We think these will bring happiness. Solomon, uniquely qualified and equipped to investigate such, found that happiness and fulfillment are not found in any of those things.

 

Ultimately, Solomon points to the end game as to why this life is so futile: we all die. No matter what we accumulate, what we accomplish, we die and others take the helm. What we sought to accomplish gets pushed to the side just as we did with what others pursued before us. Life is futile.

 

The purpose of Solomon's book is not without great merit. It prepares us for the new covenant. When we realize that the happiness and fulfillment that we yearn for is not to be found in this life, we begin to look elsewhere. Here is where the gospel comes into play. We are told that we have a wonderful inheritance that awaits us in the resurrection if we but place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. As believers this inheritance is secured for us - guaranteed, something we can count on. It is certain and its value never diminishes. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21.

 

Solomon is preparing us for the gospel message as he speaks to the futility of life under the sun. The exciting news in the gospel is the happiness and fulfillment we often strive for in this world of futility is found freely in him! And... how much greater is that happiness and fulfillment we will find with our Creator God when we enter into all he designed us for!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com