Life’s This, That, Then and Other

Is life this & that & then & other? According to Forest Gump’s mother, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.” Is life merely a series of random events which we humans are left to try to make some sense of? While it is risky to build a philosophy on 4 letter words, we often see this in Scripture. For example, that provocative Preacher in Ecclesiastes, posing as king Solomon, begins by saying life’s “this & that” is a series of meaningless cycles (Eccl. 1:2-11). After more probing, he says time is a series of opposites; “kill->heal, weep->laugh, love->hate, war->peace” (Eccl. 3:1-8). Yes, God is there and he has placed eternity in our hearts but we cannot find out what He is up to (3:9-11). Life is vanity and striving after wind.

Or is life This —> That —> Then —> Other? Yes, says Jesus as he opened a scroll of Isaiah and reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … to proclaim” (Lk. 4:18-19). Mid-point, Jesus says, “I go on my way today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my course” (Lk. 13:12ff) At the end He says, there is this: “the Christ suffers” followed by this: “third day rise from the dead” followed by that “repentance and forgiveness of sins proclaimed” and then, “you are witnesses” (Lk. 24:46-48).

We may see Acts as a story of the other events and other people who are reached. Among them is an Ethiopian who opened the scroll and read from Isaiah. He was given understanding and was baptized. And then life follows for him and for Phillip – rejoicing, proclamation, and service. There is always a “what’s next?” In Acts, next comes a man breathing threats and murders who is arrested by the risen Jesus. He becomes the next instrument of the Lord. Later, he recounts his this (Rom. 1:2-4) and his that – “bring about obedience of faith” (1:5-6).

I feel for that Preacher in Ecclesiastes. He saw the evils and injustices in his world but he opted out for a comfortable life. What if he had opened and read the scroll of Isaiah? Maybe he did and had given up on his promises. Is he there in Scripture to goad us with all this reality stuff so that we can nail down life’s certainties (Eccl. 12:11)?

—Tom Yoakum