by Charles Bertelsmeier
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Read Ecclesiastes 1:1–11
Although I can remember the names and a little about the lives of my grandparents, I would struggle to tell you the names of all my great-grandparents or anything about their lives.
Then I think about my grandchildren and realise they know virtually nothing about my parents and previous generations. I’m sure we could all agree with the sentiment expressed in today’s verse.
We will spend today and the next four days looking at the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Before you open your calendar app and set a reminder to resume reading LCA devotions next Saturday and skip these five days, let me encourage you to persevere. God has put every book of the Bible there for a reason and has a message for us. I pray that God has a message for you in what he gives me to write. You may also like to read the whole book before we proceed with these devotions.
The first verse of this book indicates that the author is King Solomon. God blessed King Solomon to be one of the wisest people in history. He is also believed to be the author of the biblical book Song of Songs and to have collected many proverbs.
In Ecclesiastes, the author conducts a series of scientific experiments to find the meaning of life. In reflecting on this, I think we are all doing the same, but probably not as scientifically as Solomon. As young children, we are absorbed in play. As teenagers, we are trying to discover who we are. As young adults, we seek acceptance through our friendship circles and employment. Then, we aim to perpetuate our identity through our children, moving on to get ourselves financially secure and finally retiring to contemplate what we have achieved with our lives. Maybe we will even write up our life stories to perpetuate our legacies.
Solomon tries a range of activities to find meaning and fulfilment but comes up empty each time. Most of these things are things we also do to try to discover meaning and purpose. Spoiler alert: The conclusion Solomon comes to is that we only find that meaning and purpose through our relationship with God and by surrendering our lives to the plans he has for us.
Most of us, me included, didn’t want to hear that when we were younger and tried looking elsewhere. I thank God he didn’t give up on me and gently led me to accept Solomon’s conclusion.
Heavenly Father, I accept that life without you is meaningless. Please help me to listen to your Spirit as we dive into the Book of Ecclesiastes and to find meaning and purpose in your plans for us. Amen.
Charles is a retired engineer who has worked on communications projects for the air force, army and navy. He lives in a retirement village in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney with his wife, Diane. Together, they have four children and eight grandchildren, all of whom they love spending time with. Charles keeps busy caring for their pot plants and a community vegetable garden, researching his family history and volunteering at LifeWay Lutheran Church.
God never turns away
by Pauline Simonsen
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Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Romans 10:17).
Read Romans 10:16–11:1
Think of the times you’ve turned your back on God in the past week. When he’s been speaking, and you’ve metaphorically put your fingers in your ears and started saying ‘la, la, la’ very loudly. Like turning over and going back to sleep when you wake early in the morning with an invitation to spend some time with God. Or ignoring the prompt to connect with the person who keeps coming into your mind. Deciding to indulge the bad habit, even though you know it’s wrong. Telling yourself you’ll read the devotion ‘later’. Yeah, me too.
God is always speaking to us, calling us to him, but humans seem to be hardwired to reject him and to turn away from his invitations to come to him. Even we who have been redeemed by him, reborn in our baptism, made his children – we still struggle with this old nature that doesn’t want God. The Apostle Paul knew the struggle too. He lamented: ‘I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate’ (Romans 7:15).
It’s not like we haven’t heard the word of God; we have, over and over, from parents, pulpits, podcasts! It’s not like we don’t understand who God is in Jesus and what God has done for us. The Israelites had the same struggle, as Paul says in today’s reading. They heard, they understood – but many of them still rejected God’s word about Christ. The problem is human wilfulness, our ‘old Adam’. Paul quotes Isaiah quoting God: ‘All day long I have held my hands out to a disobedient and obstinate people.’ That’s Israel in captivity; Jonah in the belly of the fish; failing, sinking Peter; you and me – we are all those disobedient, obstinate people. Surely God gets sick of our repeated rejections of him? Surely he will turn his back on us?
‘No!’ says Paul. God will not reject his people. God still speaks his beautiful message of grace, the good news: the word about Christ. We hear again that God’s mercy in Jesus never ends, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, we believe. We put our faith in the one who is grace incarnate – our Jesus, standing before us right now, saying, ‘Come.’
Beloved Jesus, we hear you now, calling us to yourself, like you called Peter out of the boat. O loving Lord, help us to come to you and follow you today. Forgive our wilfulness, and with your Spirit’s help, give us hearts to love you, Lord, and to obey you this day. Amen.
Pauline lives in sight of the ranges in the beautiful Manawatu region of New Zealand with her husband Roger and their two cats. There, she leads Emmaus Bible College and offers spiritual direction and supervision to people from a wide range of backgrounds and denominations.
The grace of Jesus
by Pauline Simonsen
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… they knew it was the Lord (John 21:12b).
Read John 21:1–13
The disciples are lost; they don’t know what to do. Their master was crucified, dead and buried, but now he is miraculously alive again. How can this be? And what are they supposed to do now? Confused and disoriented, they return to the one thing they know: fishing. But today, they’re not even successful at that.
And then: the man on the shore in the early morning light, the call to try once more and the catch of fish – so big they can’t get it on board and must tow it to shore.
Suddenly, the disciples’ heads are full of echoes and memories of another morning three years before, of a man on the shore and another enormous catch. John turns to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ And Peter can’t help himself; he leaps out of the boat into the water to go to Jesus. Like he did that night on the lake in the storm – ‘call me to you!’ he’d cried. And Jesus said, ‘Come.’ Peter, desperate to be with his Lord.
But there has been much water under the bridge in those three years. There has been ‘Get behind me, Satan’ (Mark 8:32,33)! There has been Peter’s overconfident declaration (Mark 14:29–31) and then his falling asleep in Gethsemane (Mark 14:37,38). There was his foolish attempt to defend against Jesus’ arrest (John 18:10,11). And, worst of all, there was Peter’s denial of his Lord three times (Mark 14:66–72). The Peter who jumps out of the boat to go to Jesus is heartsick, ashamed and humbled.
But see how Jesus receives him. With a welcoming fire and bread and fish ready to eat. No rebuke or condemnation. Instead, he tells Peter to bring some fish they just caught. Surely, as Peter goes to help the others bring the haul ashore, he is remembering when Jesus called him three years before: ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching people’ (Luke 5:10).
Perhaps the Lord still has a purpose for him?
As Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them, echoing another sacramental meal, Peter realises that above all else his master is grace. Jesus redeems failing humans like Peter, like us.
‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning’ (Lamentations 3:22,23b).
Bless you, loving Lord, for your endless grace for us failing humans. Thank you that every day I begin again in your merciful love. Walk with me today, and use me for your kingdom purposes. I go out now in your peace. Amen.
Pauline lives in sight of the ranges in the beautiful Manawatu region of New Zealand with her husband Roger and their two cats. There, she leads Emmaus Bible College and offers spiritual direction and supervision to people from a wide range of backgrounds and denominations.
God with us
by Pauline Simonsen
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It is I; don’t be afraid (John 6:20b).
Read John 6:14–24
Earlier this week, we meditated on Matthew’s narrative of Jesus walking on the water. John’s account contains some differences. After miraculously feeding the crowds, Jesus leaves them. He goes up into the hills alone to prevent the crowd from trying to force him to be their king. John’s account also doesn’t mention Peter’s experience of walking on the water and Jesus saving him.
John’s interest lies in Jesus’ supernatural authority over the natural realm and people’s different responses to it. The morning after the feeding miracle, when the crowd works out that Jesus didn’t go in the boat with the disciples, they pursue him to Capernaum, asking how Jesus got to the other side. They are fascinated with Jesus and his miraculous powers, a fascination Jesus isn’t interested in feeding, then or now (John 6:26,27).
What about the disciples? What do they learn about their master as they battle against heavy winds and waves in their small boat on the lake that night? They see the figure on the water walking out of the darkness towards them, and they are terrified. Then they hear the voice of their master calling out, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid!’
Perhaps Jesus’ declaration is preparing the disciples for his ‘I AM’ statements, the first of which John records in the next few verses: ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35). At the very least, the disciples must be recalling Old Testament Scriptures that speak of Yahweh as the one who controls the seas.
‘The waters saw you, O God … and writhed; the very depths were convulsed … Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen’ (Psalm 77:16,19). ‘You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them’ (Psalm 89:9).
The disciples witness Jesus, their master, doing what only God can do. Whether they fully perceive it yet, the ‘I AM’ of the burning bush is among them! Immanuel, God is with us!
The God who led Israel through the waters of the Red Sea is the same God who walked over the Sea of Galilee to the disciples’ boat. And this is the same God who speaks to you and me in our storms, ‘It is I, don’t be afraid!’ Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
In the troubles of my life today, Lord Jesus, grant me to see you with clarity and trust as the God of my salvation. Let your word quell my fears, and your presence bring me peace, today and always. Amen.
Pauline lives in sight of the ranges in the beautiful Manawatu region of New Zealand with her husband Roger and their two cats. There, she leads Emmaus Bible College and offers spiritual direction and supervision to people from a wide range of backgrounds and denominations.