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I wrote a response paper to Ecclesiastes for my Old Testament class. The professor (or grader) wrote at the top, "I have read a lot of papers on Ecclesiastes thus far and by far you have done the best job at articulating what you learned." Take that Compositon prof!
“Ecclesiastes can be easily understood.” This is a true statement. I previously misunderstood Ecclesiastes, or rather didn’t understand it at all. Now that I do understand it, now that I can read the book intelligently and thoughtfully, I am really starting to enjoy it. The whole idea of acknowledging the curse and not diminishing the problems that we face ever day was really refreshing. Yet this idea is reinforced with a more important truth: that there is a God who loves us and He wants us to enjoy life, despite the curse.
I am not from your typical Cedarville family. My mother and I are the only Christians in my entire family. I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, and as a white person there have been many times in my hometown when I was the minority. We don’t have money. My sister is struggling with gender identity. My uncle decided a couple years ago that he didn’t want his kids anymore and I haven’t seen my cousin Amber in years. My 6 year old cousin was accused of sexually assaulting his siblings. I’ve seen parents of friends’ die of cancer and 14 year olds raising children. Every semester I am at Cedarville is a leap of faith that God will provide. Yet he always does.
Studying through Ecclesiastes was such an encouragement. With a lot of brokenness, a lot of mistakes, and a lot of hurting in my life and in the lives of those who are closest to me, it’s easy to feel that I’m doing something wrong. That I must not be worshipping God enough or I must not be tithing enough or I must not be praying enough. And all of those things are good, but they can’t take away the curse. I can love God with everything inside of me and show that every day but that doesn’t change the fact that I live in a broken body in a broken family in a broken world. For a book of the Bible just to acknowledge the hurts of the world with anger and frustration made me feel not so alone. To read Solomon’s words of desperation and realization made me feel okay to hurt.
Sometimes I feel guilty feeling sad about my situations. I try to go for as long as I can without crying about something negative going on. And although God does want us to enjoy life, God knows more than I that we live in a sinful world. And boys or clothes or a Christian school aren’t going to change that. Finding a boyfriend or finding new friends or moving out of my house aren’t going to fix the curse. More clothes aren’t going to make life easier. I can’t turn to things of this world to fix the problems of this world. Ecclesiastes pushed me toward the cross, pushed me toward the feet of Jesus to kneel in humble, broken, pleading worship, to just ask God for strength and to thank Him for His awesome love that I am so undeserving of. Ecclesiastes reminds me that nothing I can do can fix what the curse causes, but that leaning on and turning to God is the only way to get through it all.
God loves me and God didn’t intend for life to be hard. Just like he didn’t intend for life to be so broken, He did intend for us to enjoy life, and that is important to Him. I don’t need to get caught up on the negative because I have so much to be thankful for. I don’t need to worry and whine about everything that’s going wrong, because there is so much in my life that is wonderful. God doesn’t forget about our hurts, He just helps us heal, and helps us focus on the blessings. Ecclesiastes is about acknowledging the pain, finding that the right and only cure is Jesus, and enjoying life in the little things every day, not forgetting about the pain or getting rid of it, but finding a deeper joy that the curse just can’t touch.
“Ecclesiastes can be easily understood.” This is a true statement. I previously misunderstood Ecclesiastes, or rather didn’t understand it at all. Now that I do understand it, now that I can read the book intelligently and thoughtfully, I am really starting to enjoy it. The whole idea of acknowledging the curse and not diminishing the problems that we face ever day was really refreshing. Yet this idea is reinforced with a more important truth: that there is a God who loves us and He wants us to enjoy life, despite the curse.
I am not from your typical Cedarville family. My mother and I are the only Christians in my entire family. I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, and as a white person there have been many times in my hometown when I was the minority. We don’t have money. My sister is struggling with gender identity. My uncle decided a couple years ago that he didn’t want his kids anymore and I haven’t seen my cousin Amber in years. My 6 year old cousin was accused of sexually assaulting his siblings. I’ve seen parents of friends’ die of cancer and 14 year olds raising children. Every semester I am at Cedarville is a leap of faith that God will provide. Yet he always does.
Studying through Ecclesiastes was such an encouragement. With a lot of brokenness, a lot of mistakes, and a lot of hurting in my life and in the lives of those who are closest to me, it’s easy to feel that I’m doing something wrong. That I must not be worshipping God enough or I must not be tithing enough or I must not be praying enough. And all of those things are good, but they can’t take away the curse. I can love God with everything inside of me and show that every day but that doesn’t change the fact that I live in a broken body in a broken family in a broken world. For a book of the Bible just to acknowledge the hurts of the world with anger and frustration made me feel not so alone. To read Solomon’s words of desperation and realization made me feel okay to hurt.
Sometimes I feel guilty feeling sad about my situations. I try to go for as long as I can without crying about something negative going on. And although God does want us to enjoy life, God knows more than I that we live in a sinful world. And boys or clothes or a Christian school aren’t going to change that. Finding a boyfriend or finding new friends or moving out of my house aren’t going to fix the curse. More clothes aren’t going to make life easier. I can’t turn to things of this world to fix the problems of this world. Ecclesiastes pushed me toward the cross, pushed me toward the feet of Jesus to kneel in humble, broken, pleading worship, to just ask God for strength and to thank Him for His awesome love that I am so undeserving of. Ecclesiastes reminds me that nothing I can do can fix what the curse causes, but that leaning on and turning to God is the only way to get through it all.
God loves me and God didn’t intend for life to be hard. Just like he didn’t intend for life to be so broken, He did intend for us to enjoy life, and that is important to Him. I don’t need to get caught up on the negative because I have so much to be thankful for. I don’t need to worry and whine about everything that’s going wrong, because there is so much in my life that is wonderful. God doesn’t forget about our hurts, He just helps us heal, and helps us focus on the blessings. Ecclesiastes is about acknowledging the pain, finding that the right and only cure is Jesus, and enjoying life in the little things every day, not forgetting about the pain or getting rid of it, but finding a deeper joy that the curse just can’t touch.