All it takes is one mistake to destroy an otherwise good life. “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench” (v1) Usually though the life changing mistake is being prepared for long in advance. This chapter shows example after example of how the foolish show themselves to be foolish and how even if one is living righteously things will not necessarily move in a “good” way.
“Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place” (v6) Watching tv is a good way to see how folly is set in many high places. Hour after hour the tv plays stories of people who are unwise. Popular shows examine sex crimes, drug use, infidelity, children who are disobedient and rude to their parents and parents who support abhorrent life styles. Then there are the ads for medicine. Hour after hour you are told that whatever illness you are facing can be cured with a magic pill. There are side effects including “fatal events” but those can be remedied with the medicine on the next commercial.
I was in the pharmacy one day. There was a woman talking with the pharmacy tech. She asked for one med. It was a high powered anti-psychotic. I wasn’t surprised because the woman had the slightly disheveled look and thrusting tongue of a person on such meds. That medicine was almost ready and the tech asked if she needed another med. This one was a powerful anti-anxiety drug. The woman said “Oh yes, but I don’t need the…” The one she didn’t need yet was a sleeping pill advertised routinely. Then she asked if her doctor had called in a refill for a pain med. I almost started crying.
I am sure the progression of her drug use was slow. She had probably had a rough start in life. When she was a young mom, she probably had a bout of depression, or illness that manifested as depression. She was prescribed a pill for it. There were side effects so she got another pill and so on. Now, she cannot function without handfuls of pills with every meal. She is trapped and thinks she is doing something good for herself.
And, even with all these pills, our society is so depressed it cannot see hope. We do not understand as much as we think we do about depression. We have found substances that seem to help for a time. The only cure for depression is the freedom found in Jesus. There is not a magic pill that will take it away. It requires a daily relationship with our Savior and work. The work is hard. The work hurts but so does depression. Sometimes, medicine can help with the work but we must remember that the medicine is not the answer.
This book, Ecclesiastes, is depressing. Over and over again we are told that life is hard. Life hurts. Life doesn’t make sense. We are told to enjoy what we have-our jobs, our spouse, our food-because those are the things we have. But we have to remember that Solomon, our preacher, did not know Jesus. If we know Jesus, we know that there is something more than this world. There is a hope that transcends all pain. There is a joy that floats in above all the pain- a joy that can take the most awful pain and soothe it. There is a light that will destroy the darkness of depression.
If you are depressed, reach out. Someone is waiting to help you. You need the support of those who love you to walk through the night. You need those who have been in that valley to help you make it to the other side. Do not walk that valley alone. It is a real and dangerous place. People do not always make it out. We are meant to be in relationship not only with our Jesus but with others who know pain. Please, please reach out. We want you to be well and will do whatever we can to help you get there.
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