Day Five - Finding
ourselves a Solomon
Dave and I are
big fans of the show, The Middle. I like the idea that there are other families
struggle to get it together, to care for each other and find meaning in the
day, when so many tasks need to be done and life keeps coming at you full
force.
Our favorite episodes
have to do with the Heck family’s experiences in church. On one particular
episode the mom, Frankie, was especially energized by a sermon while visiting a
friend’s church. The message of the sermon left with the hearer was that we
need to “Get our business done!” Frankie spends an entire episode trying to
figure out what her business is and how to get it done. You can imagine why it
might be comedic. Clearly, the business the preacher was imploring had to do
with the message of Christ, but sometimes it’s not all that clear what that
looks like in our specific place and time. This trouble can be multiplied when
we are a) not in the Word regularly and b) not gathering with His people.
In Ecclesiastes
3:11, Solomon states:
“I have seen the business that God has given to the
children of man to be busy with.”
We all have business in this life, tasks to do, vocations to
fulfill. Solomon tells us that He has seen the tasks and the toils of daily
life. He’s been there and He knows what
joy and vexes come from our business. He knows that we all have different work,
and in v. 12 and 13 He encourages the hearer to “do good” and “take pleasure”
in their work on earth.
In fact, Luther encourages us to all to find a Solomon in our
life. He tells us in His commentary on Ecclesiastes that we all need people who will exhort us, people
who acknowledge our lives as they are and the meaning and God’s work in that,
people who will sit with us in the day to day, people who will encourage us
through our tasks, and those who will be witnesses, to not just the truth of
life but help us “view (our life) with
the lens of God.”
What kind of
people do you have around you in your life? Who is wise and shares the God lens
with you? Do you have a Solomon?
Like Frankie
Heck, we all know we have some business to do, but figuring out what that is
can be the challenge. What would God have us spend our time on? What is our
task for the given day, for our families, and for our Kingdom work on earth?
We need people in
our lives who will help us sort this out, around the Word of God, and in
prayer. We need our husbands, our sisters, our churches to help us sort through
and we in all of that we will find a few Solomon’s who will help us discern the
God things and the good things, and the good things from God to spend our time
on.
We will have an
eternal impact, girls, because God is in us. His Spirit reigns in our hearts
and so His legacy is not lost in the midst of our business. Change those
diapers, teach that class, love that husband, turn in that paperwork. All of it
we know is good, in God.
And when we feel
a bit lost in all of it, sit across from your Solomon with a cup of coffee or a
juice, and seek some discernment.
Getting’ our
business done! He will do it, sister. He surely will do His business in us and
through us.
Heart verse:
I perceived that what God does endures forever
Ecclesiastes 3:14a
Labels: connection, Ecclesiastes, friendship
