My dear readers,

(Extracts from RPG Workbook Vol III No. 12, Oct 28 – Nov 24, 1984, edited by Dr SH Tow)

1. LIFE: ONE CONTINUAL "WEARY-GO-ROUND" (Matthew 11:28-30; Ecclesiastes 1:4-9)

To the young person, life is full of promise and pursuit. The career-maker is told "The sky's the limit." The future seems never more promising and bright! That is when one is flushed with the glow of youth, but even the span of youth is not infrequently cut down by untimely death.

The view of youth, however, changes with age, like the ways of youth. St. Paul says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Cor 13:11). My dear young reader, when you have advanced beyond middle age, mysteriously and irresistibly, the view changes. Suddenly almost, the rosy brightness has turned to ashy-grey.

LIFE'S UNENDING CYCLE OF CHANGE

Solomon's observation is ours as well: life's tiresome story is one unending cycle of change. Generations come and go: fathers pass on, making way for children. The house endures, but the tenants keep changing. The sun, the wind, the water — all have their cycles. We too get caught up in one seemingly interminable cycle of work-play-rest. But in this relentless cycle, is there true rest?

Stop that senseless spinning! Break the cycle for a moment, get off that rat-race and reflect. Dear reader, see life with eyes of detachment, with God-given spiritual insight, and see this life 'under the sun' for what it is. Alas, it is just ONE SENSELESS "WEARY-GO-ROUND."

Every day reveals ever more clearly that life 'under the sun' is only labour in a weary land. Labour, not rest, is our portion. Night gives brief respite, morning heralds another round of toil, and adds proof to the Preacher's message: all is vanity. Indeed, in so many ways is this weariness felt that man cannot utter it. We are so far from rest as the restless sun, the wind and the rivers, in their ceaseless cyclical activity.

So we seek and find, we toil and succeed; yet we toil again in endless quest, no nearer the prize than when we first began! So it shall be until we come to Him who says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).

QUIZ: Who can give you rest, and how?
PRAYER: Lord, give me no rest till I rest in Thee.

2. NO NEW THING UNDER THE SUN? (Psalm 102:25-28; Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)

No doubt, some sceptic will take a quick shot at the GOOD BOOK, and triumphantly proclaim, "Here you are! Who said the Bible is without mistakes?" What do you say to that?

Obviously, the Preacher's statement is a qualified statement. We must not take it out of context and generalize. Amid the ceaseless change and diversification of this world, doubtless new things and events keep constantly appearing. New products and process, innovations and inventions keep the world's marketplace buzzing with life. But all these are merely re-arrangements within the completed Creation. Man has actually brought forth no new thing!

THE CONTENTS OF THE CREATION REMAIN UNCHANGED

Solomon had God-given understanding which stands against any sceptic’s attacks. What he was telling us is that created matter and established physical laws are as they were from the beginning. The main features of the universe are the same. Since the LORD God created the heaven and the earth and all things, nothing new has been added. Things animate and inanimate remain as they were from the beginning (2 Pet 3:4). The works of creation were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb 4:3). We add nothing to God's handiwork.

Physical processes and phenomena remain unchanged. God's laws of matter remain unchanged. The atoms are the same today as they were from the beginning. Men's knowledge keeps increasing: these merely reveal more of the marvels of God's unsearchable wisdom in creation. Men discover new elements, new constellations in space, new subatomic particles, new physical phenomena. But the same basic chemical and physical properties of matter have never changed.

Francis Bacon, the great thinker and Christian said, "For novelty no man that wadeth in learning or contemplation thoroughly, but will find that printed on his heart — nothing new upon the earth."

GOD'S PROMISE — ALL THINGS NEW

Today's meditation is to point us away from this ageing perishing world which we are passing through as "strangers and pilgrims on the earth," and to look with hope for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Hear the voice of Him who sits upon the throne: “Behold, I make all things new … These words are true and faithful” (Rev 21:5).

QUIZ: Have you made sure of a place in God's new earth?
PRAYER: Create in me a new heart, O Lord.

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Founding Pastor