Living in the Dark

Nobody knows the true story of their life. We know the things we do and say, the actions that we choose to take while we are alive. But no one knows what effect these things have beyond the moment in which they are done. Decisions meant to be life-changing come to nothing, while thoughtless actions reverberate down through the decades.

The Teacher spends his twelve chapters elucidating a world in which nothing makes sense, in which cause is not tied to effect, and where the outcomes are cruel and random. He describes a broken world, where key communications between Creator and created are cut off, a puzzle with missing pieces. We are living in the dark, acting out our small obediences and rarely seeing any result.

But there is a result and a consequence to everything we do, though we cannot see it now. To obey the ancient calling of an unseen God seems like foolishness and futility in the failing lights of our dying world. But there will come a time when the sun rises and the shadows flee away, and the true shape of the world will be revealed and the true story of the human race will be told. That is why the end of the Teacher’s wisdom is not to rely on our own understanding but on God’s. Only he can see through the darkness we exist in, and only by following the calling of his voice will we find our way home.

Respond in Prayer

Dear God, Help us to live by your wisdom and not by our own. Help us to trust that you can see what we cannot. Let us hear your voice, that calls us to our true selves and to the true story of our lives. Amen.

Michael Bonikowsky

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