Let us remember the days of darkness
[Ecclesiastes 11:1-8]
When I look back on this year, I have things to thank for the grace and love God has given me. In particular, when I think of it as a church, I can not help but thank God that God gave his brother in Christ Kim Dong-Hwan a second chance of life. And when I think it as my home, I am thankful that God has extended the life of my father-in-law. When I think about these two beloved people I have learned some lessons. One of the lessons is that God hears our prayers. I still remember that when Brother Kim Dong-Hwan was lying in the intensive care unit, I visited him and met his wife. She said to me, 'Pastor, I only ask for the miracle of God.' And God has answered her prayer and we are actually seeing this wonderful miracle. I also see the similar kind of miracle in my father-in-law. Although he was sentenced to death by his own doctor because of his lung cancer, I am surprised to see that God is listening to so many people's prayers and that he is doing well. I still remember the moments when I saw and heard that both Brother Kim Dong-Hwan and my father-in-law received death sentences from their doctors. And I thought about how I would have reacted if I had been in their situation. Furthermore, if the doctor tells me that I have less than six months to live, I thought about how I would live the rest of my life. When I did that, I thought of two things. One thing was an illustration that I heard from a friend over a long time ago when I was in college. The illustration was monks’ story in a monastery. When the monks were playing soccer in the monastery, their leader came and asked them, 'What are you going to do if you are going to die tomorrow?' The monks’ answers were ‘I will read the Bible more diligently’, 'I will work harder to evangelize', ‘I will pray more’ etc.. But one monk replied, 'I will play soccer tomorrow.' The reason I like this story is because I want to continue to be faithful to what I have done so far even if I die tomorrow. And another thing that came to my mind was the story about my co-worker in Christ pastor Yong Suk Lee who passed away some years ago. When he was battling with his cancer, I heard that he preached in the church and the ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He wanted to be faithful in preaching the Word of God until he died. When I thought of this pastor who faithfully fulfilled his duty in the Lord's church until the last moment of his death, I also felt that I also want to faithfully take on the responsibility that the Lord has entrusted to me until that day of my last breath in this earth.
When we look at Ecclesiastes 11: 8, this is what the Bible says: “Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.” What King Solomon is exhorting us is to remember many days of darkness. What is “the days of darkness” that King Solomon is talking about? He is talking about the day of death (Park Yun-sun). King Solomon is encouraging us to look forward to the day of death. Then, what kind of life is a life that looks at the dark day, the day of death? There are three things we can think of:
First, a life that looks forward to the day of death is to live by faith carefully.
When we look at Ecclesiastes 11:2, 5, and 6, the same phrase appears three times over. The phrase is "you do not know" (vv. 2, 5, 6). What does King Solomon say that we do not know? It is the future. He is saying that we can not know the future. This is what King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:14 – “In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.” What does it mean? It means that God gives us not only the days of prosperity but also the days of trouble. What is God’s intention? It is that we may not be able to discover anything that will happen in our future. So how should we live since we cannot know the future? Instead of being afraid of the future and worry about it, we should rely on God who knows and controls the future (7:14). And because we do not know the future, we should plan our lives more carefully and live (Wiersbe). We should never live without any plan saying that we live by faith. We must be careful. We must live our lives carefully and faithfully for the glory of God.
Second, a life that looks forward to the day of death is to live a life of loving our neighbors.
Here, loving neighbors refers specifically to relief or help. In other words, as we must look forward to the day of death, we should help our neighbors. How do we help our neighbors?
(1) We must help our neighbors with generosity and without stinginess.
Look at Ecclesiastes 11: 1 – “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Here, what does it mean to "Cast your bread on the surface of the waters"? It means that we must help our neighbors not with stinginess but with a generous heart (Park Yun-sun). King Solomon is exhorting us to live a life of helping others with generosity and without stinginess by looking at the day of death, the day of darkness without any desire for compensation (Park Yoon-sun). Why shouldn’t we desire any compensation for those whom we help? The reason is that we hope that the Lord will pay us back [(v. 1) "... for you will find it after many days "].
(2) We must have a lot of mercy on many people.
Look at Ecclesiastes 11:2 – “Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.” Here, the word “Divide your portion to seven or eight” means to do mercy in many ways as much as you can. Or it means to give a lot of mercy to many people (Park Yun-sun). The reason is that we do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth (v. 2). In other words, since we do not know when we will die, we must give many mercies to many people by helping our neighbors with material given by God for the given years. It is because we do not know when we will be in any misfortune and can no longer help others. It is clear, as King Solomon said in verse 3, “If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.” And as if a storm comes, the tree falls, if a a disaster strikes a person, he or she has to face the disaster (Park Yun-sun). How should we live when we do not know when disaster will happen to us? We can be reluctant to serve others while worrying about the calamities that may come to us. This is what King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 11:4 - “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.” What does it mean? It means that we should not hesitate to help others while worrying about future disasters. That is to say, we cannot help others if we think about this and that. That’s why we have to help others by faith. Only God knows about our future. We don’t know what will happen to us in the future. So we need to give a lot of mercy to many people when God has given us a day of prosperity. Why? The reason is that we don’t know when they day of adversity may come to our lives (7:14).
Third, a life that looks forward to the day of death is to obey God's Word and to make every effort to do God's work.
Look at Ecclesiastes 11:5-6: “Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things. Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.” What does it mean? We do not know the way of the wind. We also do not know how the baby's bones in the mother's womb are formed and growing. Likewise, we do not know how God accomplishes everything in his his providence. That’s why King Solomon is telling us, “Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening” (v. 6). Dr. Park Yun-sun interpreted this: “In the days of youth (‘morning’), we must do the work of God's service with materials for righteousness and also in our old age (‘evening’).” Like a farmer, we must sow seeds all the days of our lives. We must sow seeds like the words of Psalms 126: 6 – “He who goes to and for weeping, carrying his bag of seed ….” Then we will come again with a shout of joy, bringing our sheaves with us. In other words, we must be diligent in doing the work of God both in youth and in old age. Since we don’t know what kind of fruit God will bring forth, we must not lay our hands on it, but we must diligently and put our efforts in doing the Lord’s works.
Today, our church Hispanic Ministry Pastor Gomez had something to say to me. So I listened to him in my office. And I found out that one of our former members of Hispanic Ministry, who went to Mexico, got shot on his back and was paralyzed. It is sad news indeed. His wife served our church faithfully. And he is only 34 years old. After hearing this news for a few hours, I heard another news that one of the sister in Christ in Korea who treated my family when we visited Korea, passed away. Indeed, it was the afternoon that I felt again that this world is full of deaths. How shall we live? We must live a day, thinking about that days of darkness, the day of our death. We must not only be careful to live by faith, but we must also love our neighbors as Jesus commanded us to do so. And we must do our best to help many people as we can with great mercy. We must obey God's Word and make every effort to do God's work. This life is a beautiful life in God's sight (v. 7) and a life of enjoying God’s joy (vv. 7-8). I hope and pray that we may be able to live a beautiful life in the sight of God.