A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.

Frustration is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?

When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, you cannot discover
anything about your future.

—Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, 13-14 (TNIV)

More straight talk from the Old Preacher today. Remember that it is always best to read Ecclesiastes with the Big Picture in mind. Throughout Ecclesiastes, the Preacher is reminding us that without a real relationship with the Living God, life is meaningless because it is finite and we ultimately have little control over what happens to us here. God is sovereign and we are not. We don’t get to choose our final destiny (death) and after we die we have no control over that for which we worked so hard during our mortal lives.

With this in mind, today the Preacher reminds us that God allows both good and bad to happen. God is not going to let us in on the joke about why he allows this and so we cannot and should not expect to have our “why questions” answered. Instead, what the Preacher reminds us here is that generally hard times teach us more than happy times, and this can be for our benefit if we keep having a relationship with God as our primary focus.

This was illustrated to me first hand yesterday. We had a piece of music commissioned in my mom’s memory and it was debuted yesterday. It was a glorious and happy service. Yet there was also an abiding and poignant sadness in me in the midst of the celebration. It was not for my mom (or my dad). I know where they are and cannot be anything but happy for them.

No, my sadness was for me because I miss them. I miss their physical presence and hearing their voices. They were not there to share the celebration with us or to hear the glorious music commissioned in mom’s name. All this, in turn, reminded me that life is finite and time is short. We had best take advantage of the times and opportunities that come our way because they will one day end, and likely sooner than we expect.

This is what the Preacher means by the beginning of wisdom, because this knowledge helps remind us that life is not about our biological existence but rather about having a relationship with the living God, the kind of relationship that is only possible through Jesus Christ.

Thankfully as Christians we can agree with the Preacher when he tells us that the day of death is better than the day of birth because we have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb and can look forward to living forever with him in the New Creation, where there will be no more sickness, sorrow, weeping, alienation, separation, brokenness or death.

Where are you on the wisdom trail?

Weakened by our various ailments, we all look for something to rest on. Good people find rest in their home, in their spouse, in their children, in the modest pleasures of their life, in their little piece of property, in the plants they have set in the ground with their own hands, in the buildings they have constructed. But because God wants us to be in love only with eternal life, he mingles bitter elements with these innocent pleasures so that even in the midst of our joys we are not totally comfortable. God allows “the sheets of our bed to be wrinkled” so that we will not fall in love with this earthy barn instead of longing for the true home that awaits us in heaven.

—Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 40, 5

In a Christian believer love sits upon the throne which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and man, which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival. In the circle near the throne are all holy tempers: —longsuffering, gentleness, fidelity, temperance: and if any other were comprised in “the mind which was in Christ Jesus.” In an exterior circle are all the works of mercy, whether to the souls or bodies of [people]. Next to these are those that are usually termed works of piety:—reading and hearing the word, public, family, private prayer, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence. Lastly, that his followers may the more effectually provoke one another to love, holy tempers, and good works, our blessed Lord has united them together in one body, the Church.

—Sermon 92, On Zeal, 7.60

Notice the grand synthesis here in Wesley’s sermon. Works of mercy and works of piety are inextricably bound together. You can’t have one without the other and together, both produce the holy temper (inclination) to love. If you try to separate works of piety from works of mercy, you will produce a social activist who is not well-grounded and can get lost in his or her activism. If you separate works of mercy from works of piety, you will become an introverted navel-gazer who ignores getting about the business of kingdom work that is expected of every Christian.

How are you doing in these areas?

Do you walk in all the ordinances of God? In public, family, private prayer? If not, if you habitually neglect any of these known duties, how can you expect that the light of [God’s] countenance should continue to shine upon you?

—Sermon 46, The Wilderness State, 6.86