Wisdom for Difficult Days, Part 2 of 3

Ecclesiastes 7:10-14

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
Pastor Juvenal Cervantes
September 27, 2926

We still hear the popular song from The Judds that brought us to nostalgia: "Grandpa (Tell Me 'bout The Good Ol' Days)"

Grandpa
Tell me 'bout the good ol' days
Sometimes it feels like
This world's gone crazy
Grandpa
Take me back to yesterday
When the line between right and wrong
Didn't seem so hazy

Did lovers really fall in love to stay
And stand beside each other come what may?
Was a promise really somethin' people kept?
Not just somethin' they would say
Did families really bow their heads to pray?
Did daddies really never go away?
Whoa-oh, grandpa
Tell me 'bout the good ol' days

Grandpa
Everything is changin' fast
We call it progress
But I just don't know
And grandpa
Let's wander back into the past
Then paint me the picture
Of long ago

In our topic, “Wisdom for difficult days,” the teacher will give two lessons: 1. Avoid living in the past, and 2. Be curious about what God is doing now.

4. Wisdom Does Not Live in the Past

Ecclesiastes 7:10

The Teacher says:

“Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”

There is a temptation to romanticize the past.

“We had better times back then.”

“People were better back then.”

“The church was better years ago.”

“Families were stronger when I was young.”

Sometimes the past really did contain wonderful things.

But Ecclesiastes warns us not to live there.

God has not called us to live yesterday.

God has called us to be faithful today.

Every generation has challenges.

Every generation has opportunities.

Every generation needs the Gospel.

Instead of constantly asking, “Why can't things be like they used to be?”

Wisdom asks:

“Lord, what do You want me to do with the day You have given me?”

We cannot change yesterday.

But with God's help, we can faithfully live today.

5. Wisdom Gives Strength in the Midst of Trouble

Ecclesiastes 7:11–14

The Teacher speaks about the value of wisdom:

“Wisdom is as good as an inheritance…”

And then he says:

“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?”

Verse 14 is especially important:

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider.”

Notice that he says consider.

When good days come, enjoy them.

When difficult days come, don't waste them.

Consider. Pray. Learn. Grow.

Ask God what He may be teaching you.

We often pray, “God, take this difficult situation away.”

And sometimes God does.

But sometimes God gives us something else:

The wisdom and strength to walk through it.

Romans 5 reminds us that suffering can produce endurance, character, and hope.

God does not waste our difficult seasons.

There was once a farmer who planted a small field every spring. One year, after planting, the rain stopped. Week after week, the ground remained dry. The farmer began to wonder if all his work had been wasted.

One morning, his young grandson asked, “Grandpa, why did you plant if nothing is growing?”

The farmer smiled and said, “Son, just because we cannot see what is happening does not mean God is doing nothing.”

The boy did not understand.

Months later, the rains finally came. The soil softened, and slowly the plants began to grow. When harvest time arrived, the farmer gathered a beautiful crop.

Then he explained to his grandson, “There are seasons when we see growth, and there are seasons when it seems like nothing is happening. But every season has a purpose. The winter prepares the ground. The rain nourishes the soil. The waiting teaches patience. And the harvest reminds us that God was working even when we could not see it.”

Our lives are like that field.

There are seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow, seasons of success and seasons of waiting, seasons when doors open and seasons when doors seem to close. Sometimes we look at a difficult season and ask, “Why am I going through this?”

But God does not waste our seasons.

He can use the season of waiting to deepen our faith. He can use disappointment to teach us dependence. He can use hardship to develop perseverance. He can use quiet seasons to draw us closer to Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

We may not understand every season while we are living through it. But we can trust the God who sees the whole story.

The season may be difficult, but it is not meaningless. The waiting may be painful, but it is not wasted. God is still at work.

So, wherever you are today, trust God with your season. One day, you may look back and discover that God was growing something in you that could only grow there.

Prayer:

Lord, help us trust You in every season of life. When we cannot see what You are doing, give us faith to believe that You are still working. Teach us to receive the lessons of every season and to trust Your timing. Amen.