A Wise Hope

Days of Trouble Come.

(Ecclesiastes 12:1)

That’s how Solomon describes old age: “Days of trouble”. That’s the way the wise talk. They describe life the way it is—the way they find it. Yet, for wisdom to be wisdom, such observation must be told artfully—in poetry and song and parable. Otherwise, it’s not wise. You can’t just blurt things out.

Tradition has it that Solomon wrote Song of Songs in his youth; and, Proverbs at the height of his kingly power; and, Ecclesiastes as an old man reflecting back on life. We need all three books to grasp something of Solomon’s wisdom. For now, let’s assume we know something of the greatest love song ever sung; and, that we know something of Solomon’s courtly wisdom—the way the King’s Kids behave and live life. That leaves us with Ecclesiastes. Notice the artful way Solomon describes the reality of old age (Ecc 12):

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”: …In the day when strong men are bent down…

                        When the almond tree blossoms

                        And the grasshopper drags along,

                        And desire fails…

                So, remember your Creator before the silver cord is snapped,

                        Or the golden bowl is broken,

                        Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,

                        Or the wheel broken at the well.

It’s all imagery and poetry. Maybe that’s the best way to say what’s so hard to say. We can’t pretend Gary’s last days were not troubled. We lost him bit by bit.  The wheel to lower the bucket into the water, broke. Seems Scripture wants us to spend time with Solomon before we get to Easter Morning. We can’t just leap frog to Easter as if we were never troubled—as if there were no Cross. The Apostle speaks of a wise hope (Ro 8):

We ourselves groan as we wait for the redemption of our bodies. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

“Hope”… perhaps we were hoping for a bigger word than “hope”. Any other word wouldn’t be truthful. It wouldn’t be wise. The “redemption of our bodies” is a humble hope precisely because we can’t pull it off of ourselves. It’s not our doing. It lies totally and absolutely in God’s hands. It has to do with Jesus, young and vital, who died and rose again on our account. So it is that “faith, hope and love abide.”