VANITY OF VANITIES!

          King Solomon opens his rather cynical sermon (we call it The Book Of Ecclesiastes) by declaring, Vanity of Vanities!  All is vanity (Eccl.1:2).  In making an objective study of Solomon’s journal (alongside that of Job) most would likely concede that the trials and troubles of Solomon pale in comparison with those of Job.  While both Solomon and Job eventually arrive at similar conclusions (cf. Eccl.12:13-14 and Job 42:2-6), it seems that Job’s pit of despair was exponentially deeper than Solomon’s.  While Noah may have been the first to exclaim, “when it rains, it pours!”, Job surely had justification to echo that sentiment.  If ever a man felt that life had become truly EMPTY (vain), it must have been Job!  One cannot read Job’s lament (Job 3) without it stirring “bowels of compassion” (1Jn.3:17).  Just the mere thought of Job’s congregation of calamities breaks our heart.  Such sorrow and suffering is hard to fathom.

How would you handle the loss of a portfolio of rich assets including 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen and 500 donkeys?

How would you respond if you lost a son and a daughter simultaneously? How about seven sons and three daughters all at once?

How would you cope with being smote with boils from head to toe, in a day when there was no such thing as a hospital?

How would you react to “friends” who (falsely) accuse you of bringing it all on yourself?

What would you tell your mate who urges you to, “curse God and die”?

How would you suffer with what appears to be the silent apathy of God?

Would you be able to endure in such days of extremity?

Would you be able to maintain faith in God in the midst of such trials?

                                                                                      Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ