A Weary World
A. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing, Eccl. 1:8. To beings made
for fellowship with God, the world of temporal things by itself
can never be wholly satisfying. What we find is that the world,
even at its best, exhausts us and leaves us longing for Something
More. Shakespeare wrote, "O God! O God! How weary, stale,
flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world."
It is a frustrating, disappointing when we try to hold forever
things that are only temporary at best? How foolish to spend a
life time grasping in the air in a feeble attempt to grasp a hand
full of wind. It shows the self deception of folks who never see
beyond the cravings of physical life to catch a glimpse of the
eternal.
a. The addictive cravings for the things of this world can do
nothing more than place upon us a
greater burden than they can bear. I really like the way God explains
it in Isa. 29:8, "It
shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and look; he eats;
but he awakes, and his
soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and look;
he drinks; but he awakes, and
indeed he is faint, and his soul still craves." Eccl. 2:21-26.
Some how we must wipe the spiritual slumber from our eyesWake
up and begin to get more real joy from this world. Perhaps we
would begin to pay more attention to the world to come. Our problem
is not seeking too much of the world, but too little of God. C.
S. Lewis said, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong,
but too weak. We are half?hearted creatures . . . We are far too
easily pleased and we settle for second best." Spiritual
blinds keeps us from understanding that seeking the greater things
of God is to get more from this world, not less. Thats paradoxical,
yet absolutely true. "He sins against this life who slights
the next." (Edward Young).
The tiresomeness of temporal life by itself ought to be a clue
to the fact that we were meant for more. There is much more to
be enjoyed in life. But we cheat ourselves by pretending this
world is all we need. We cheat ourselves, "satisfy"
ourselves with so pitifully little, when our hearts were made
for so much greater joy. Thankfully, God keeps calling us to be
truly refreshed!
God still calls from the restlessness of the world, from the tribulation
of human events, from the feelings of discouragement, from the
lack of faith, from the failure to hear the message, from the
twilight of moral and spiritual exhaustion to eternal life. He
still calls.
2. Acts 20:32.
Spur - 04/27/03 pm
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