Poetry – Ecclesiastes 7-8

Bible Passage:  Ecclesiastes 7-8

“The good old days.”

Don’t we often refer to memories in this manner?

They are the precious memories that we keep in our heart. They may be memories of time spent together in fellowships, the initial period after we received the Holy Spirit, or the days when we were motivated by Christ’s love to be zealous for Him.

They may be the days of our youth without burdens, without responsibility, or the days before we were stricken by illnesses.

We often feel that what we have “last time” is better than what we have now.  The fellowship we had, the love we had, the joy we had…. All are much better than what we have now.

What does the Bible say?

Do not say,

” Why were the former days better than these?”
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)

When I first read these words, I went, “Woah! God, how did You know?”

The Bible is really amazing. It really contains all that we need to know; and it really knows what we need.

Reading the verse above from Ecclesiastes, I wonder though, why we are not being wise when we long for “the good old days” (see Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT). Care to share your thoughts?

My own thoughts are that, what’s past is past. Whether they are happy or sad memories, they are things that have already passed. By asking “Why were the former days better than these?”, we are actually allowing ourselves to dwell on what’s already history.

And if we continue to live in the past, we are actually missing out on what’s present at the moment. And the truth is that, only the present moment is what we have control over. We no longer can change the past; we have no idea what lies ahead in our future. Thus, we need to embrace the present moment and not waste it contemplating on what’s already past.

I am not saying that we do not reflect upon what is past so as to learn some lessons from it. What we have to do is to learn to let go. A book I recently read puts it this way: We have to learn the art of letting go: of our past, of unresolved grievances, of our younger selves.

The last four words really had an impact on me.

I have just stepped into the working world a few months ago, and I have to say that I really miss the times as a student, or as a child. I started to think that the time I had as a carefree child was too short and that it is not fair that life just throw its cares and burdens on me before I even feel ready. I still have not fully experience being a child, and I am being forced to be an adult now.

And so those words really struck me – to learn to let go of our younger selves.

The earth does not stop spinning; time will not pause. Until we learn the truth that what’s past is past, we can never learn to embrace and savour the here and now, and to cherish the present moment (which we have control over) to do meaningful good works. Until we learn the truth that what’s past is past, we will only continue wasting more of the present moments to become the past that we trap ourselves in.

Release ourselves from the past, from the former days, whether they are good or bad, and embrace the present moment.

Questions with no answers but a purpose

Perhaps sometimes when we ask, “Why were the former days better than these?”, we seek to find the answers so that we can improve on the current situation. For example, when we look at the church and reflect on love, zeal, and unity, as compared to former days.

This is good, as it can help us return to that first love we all have had once.

However, as we grow older, we also come to realize another truth: that not all questions have answers.

“Why did she contract cancer when she is such a kind person?”

“Why did this tragedy happen to me when I did nothing to deserve it?”

“Why am I made to suffer just because I am born into this family?”

“Why did my brothers sell me away when I did nothing against them?”

Even the question that we started out with sometimes has no answer:

“Why were the former days better than these?”

Very frankly, we do not know. We have no idea what is in the mind of God sometimes.

” For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

But we know that all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28), and that He will never withhold good gifts from His children (Matthew 7:11).

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

And so, even though, sometimes, we really do not know, nor do we understand, let us have faith, like the Preacher had, in God. The Preacher, wise as he was, could not figure out many things too.

Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! (Ecclesiastes 7:28, NLT).

When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, you’ll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you’re not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won’t get to the bottom of it (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, MSG).

At times, I also feel that there are so many things that I cannot make sense of anymore. The world is getting increasingly complicated for me. There are more and more questions left unanswered. But as long as we can grab hold of God and His goodness amidst these absurdities of life, then we are quite safe.

The Preacher saw His goodness and grabbed hold of it.

But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path (Ecclesiastes 7:29, NLT).

The crucial thing is, whether we can see the goodness of God in the midst of so many unanswered questions and things happening around us that we cannot make sense of. If we can, then those questions with no answers would have served their purpose. They had allowed us to see our limitation, and had pointed us towards God.