From their perception, France is a Christian nation we know much better.
! Christianity is viewed so often as a political ideology by those in the East.
! And it's important for us to stop and to consider tragedies.
So why did we not do it last Sunday?
When do we allow current events to interrupt our exposition of the Scripture?
Because, to be quite frank, we could do that on any given Sunday.
I could sit around during the week and just pay attention to what's being spoken about in social media.
And pay attention to the current events.
And there would always be something that would come in and would interrupt working through the Scripture.
It seems to me that we would tend to address these things in the same way again and again and again,
as we'll do this morning.
Just to give you some idea of this, and I'm not belittling the tragedy that happened in France by any stretch of the imagination,
but just to give you an idea of terrorism.
What's happened this year?
Terrorist attacks just this year.
Interestingly, you can access the Global Terrorism Database.
Oh, the power of the Internet.
And find that in January 3rd through January 7th of this year,
more than 2,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram militants.
January 25th, more than 67 in the Philippines were killed by Islamic freedom fighters.
January 30th, another 60 in Pakistan by the Taliban.
The total just in January was more than 2,355 people worldwide killed by terrorists.
I've got a whole list of them here.
I'll give you a couple of other examples.
These are the big numbered ones.
February 4th, more than 91 in Cameroon.
These are all Islamic terrorist groups.
March 20th, 137 in Yemen.
April 1st, more than 147 in Kenya.
June 25th, 146 in Syria.
June 26th, 70 in Somalia.
July 1st, 145 in Nigeria.
July 17th, 180 in Iraq.
September 20th, 145 in Nigeria.
October 10th, 102 in Turkey.
October 31st, 224 in Egypt.
And I am skipping over even months.
These are the big numbers, the ones that stand out as you scroll down the list.
Since the attack on November 13th.
So beginning that next Saturday, November 14th, up until yesterday, an additional 102 people have died from terrorist attacks.
So, what causes us to stop?
What bears enough weight to cause us to stop?
And I think this Sunday is particularly valuable to do so because this particular attack has really stuck.
Maybe that's because it's gotten so much media coverage.
It's probably gotten so much media coverage because France has been an ally of ours.
Because they're seen as a Western country.
Because it was an attack, at very least, on the political ideology that Muslims, radical Muslims, attach to Christianity.
Maybe all these reasons are why.
I don't really know why.
But it certainly stuck in our consciousness, hasn't it?
We stopped and we paid attention.
It was on every media outlet.
It was difficult to miss.
While you may have missed most or all of the ones that I just mentioned, you would have had to go look for those statistics.
So, here we have this one.
And I think it's important and valuable for us to consider it together.
Now, just as a brief side note, the Internet is a pretty amazing tool, isn't it?
And the Internet has given all of us a voice.
What an amazing thing that we can put out there on the World Wide Web, what we think about a particular issue.
But it's also to our detriment that it's given us all a voice, isn't it?
I read a Gospel Coalition article this week that said that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not everyone is entitled to their own facts.
And things fly around on social media so very quickly.
If you're not on social media, good for you.
It can be so distracting.
Beloved, we live in a republic.
And let me just say, the place to have political debate is not on Facebook.
Have you ever seen a political debate that was beneficial to anybody on Facebook?
I haven't.
Maybe you're more active than I am in these places.
It's not the place to post the article.
It's not the place to have the debate.
It never ends well.
If you want to be an activist, please do so.
Call your senator.
Call your congressman.
There's a way to do that in a republic.
Unless you happen to know a congressman so well that he follows your Facebook feed and keeps up with your opinion on a matter.
Just don't.
Use it for what it's made for.
Post pictures of your kids or your dog or your vacation.
Let's go there and share the happy parts of our lives together.
I just would strongly suggest to you that you not air your opinions in these matters in this way.
Have an opinion.
Have an informed opinion.
But don't get it out there in that way.
I want to ask two questions together as we consider the terrorist attack in Paris.
Number one.
Where is God in such tragedies?
Or maybe more rightly, I should ask the question, so we'll ask it this way.
How is God in such tragedies?
So number one.
How is God in such tragedies?
And number two.
What is God working to accomplish by allowing such things to happen?
And you hear me correctly.
What is God working to accomplish by allowing these things to happen?
God himself has given us answers to these questions in his holy writ.
And I will work to show you those answers for your good and for his glory this morning.
The quote on the front of your bulletin by my favorite person to quote, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
He said,
Oh, to have the word of Christ always dwelling inside of us.
In the memory never forgotten.
In the heart always loved.
In the understanding really grasped.
With all the powers and passions of the mind fully submitted to its control.
We have this access to the absolute authority.
The truth.
And we can find the answers to these questions together.
I hope to do so today.
At least in brief.
So firstly, how is God in the terror attacks in Paris?
Here's my answer.
God is providential in the terror attacks in Paris.
God is providential.
He reigns over.
He is in control as he always is in these times.
There is nothing that escapes his attention.
There is nothing outside of his grasp.
He directs all things for the fulfillment of his purposes.
Nothing is outside of his purview.
This is our God.
God sustains all things.
I'll invite you to try to keep up with me here.
Hebrews 1.3 states that Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power.
God orders all things in creation.
Job 37.6-13.
For to the snow, he says, fall on the earth.
Likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
He seals up the hand of every man that all men whom he made may know it.
Then the beasts go into their lairs and remain in their dens.
From its chamber comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds.
By the breath of God, ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.
He loads the thick cloud with moisture.
The clouds scatter his lightning.
They turn around and around by his guidance to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.
And this is not a misunderstanding on the part of the writer.
This is God's inspired word.
We understand the science behind all of these things, but God still speaks these things and they happen.
Psalm 148.8 says, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfill his word.
God orders all things creation.
He orders the affairs of nations.
Psalm 22.28.
For kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
Proverbs 21.1.
The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.
He turns it wherever he will.
Acts 17.26.
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth,
having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
God has made all of the nations.
God has decided for how long they will persist.
God has decided where the boundaries of those nations exist.
He orders the affairs of the nations.
He orders the activity of mankind.
Jeremiah 10.23.
Jeremiah says, I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Proverbs 16.9.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Beloved, this is what the Scripture says about God's providence in this world.
God is providential in the terror attacks in Paris and every other tragedy that we will walk through in this life.
Now, some would say of this means that God is providentially in control, that he permitted or that he allowed it to happen.
But I say to you, and I believe that the Scripture says that he ordained it to happen.
It's a difficult thing to say.
That God ordained it to happen.
And the immediate question that's begged, I hope your mind went there because it means that your mind is rational and it functions.
Doesn't this make God the source of evil?
God ordains it to come to pass, then isn't he the very source of it?
Doesn't it originate with him?
Is this even possible?
What we know of the character of God, can he ordain evil to come to pass?
Things might come to your mind.
1 John 1.5.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
That God is perfect.
He is holy.
He is righteous.
Is it possible that God can sin?
There's a resounding no of an answer to that, but it can be very troubling to our minds.
And I can only answer the question for you in this way.
But God ordaining sin does not make him the source of it, but rather God directs, gives direction to the evil of men in order to accomplish his purposes.
There's stories of this.
Many stories of Joseph being sold into slavery.
And Joseph at the end of all of that realizes that all the good that God brought about through his life,
he says to his brothers, what you intended for evil, God meant for good.
Let's give another river analogy a try.
I think the last one I tried really bombed.
The evil of man, it belongs to us.
The evil of man is a flowing river, and it is on the move.
God's providence sets banks on the borders of that river, directs its flow.
He himself is not the source of the river, but he orders it.
He channels it so that the river arrives at its appointed destination,
so that it accomplishes what God set out for it to accomplish.
And it's challenging to my mind.
I'd just be entirely honest to you.
I wish that I could figure all things out in the Scripture,
all of these apparent paradoxes that appear in the Scripture.
I want to wrestle them out to their very, very end.
Every reasonable explanation that I've ever read concerning these types of things
still seems to come up a bit short for me.
How is it possible that God ordains the evil, but he's not the source of the evil?
So, it's a difficult thing to try to wrap our minds around.
The alternatives are heretical.
We can't think differently about who God is in this world,
and so we must wrestle with these types of things.
It is terrifying to me to think that 130 people could be killed
over a very short period of time on Friday evening,
and that God had no part in it, that he was off someplace else,
that he wasn't paying attention,
that he wasn't there in the midst of what was happening in that place.
That caused me to shudder to think that that could even be possible
if we were to ignore the God of Scripture.
It's comforting to me to know that he ordained it.
I hope it's comforting to you to go,
Oh, this tragedy, this thing that we weep over, right?
We mourn with those who mourn.
It's something that God intended to have happen.
The next question that may come to your mind,
if God intends these things to happen, if he ordains them to happen,
is man still responsible for his actions?
Are these ISIS terrorists responsible for their actions?
Kind of ironically, they're trying to be responsible for their actions.
They've come right out and said,
we did this because it is jihad,
because of our religious ideologies.
We did this.
Our president seems to be trying to take that responsibility away from them.
They certainly are responsible.
God will not take that responsibility from them.
They're fully responsible and accountable for their sin.
God's providence does not absolve man of his responsibility.
Let me show you an example of this in the Scripture.
Turn to the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, chapter 1.
I'll give you a second to find it while I drink some water.
Habakkuk, chapter 1.
This is a very fitting text as we consider the tragedy in France.
Because the prophet Habakkuk is predicting what's going to come to pass,
and that is that Israel is going to be judged by a people, a warring people, the Chaldeans.
Let's see what God has to say, beginning in verse 5.
Habakkuk, chapter 1, verse 5.
I'll read down through verse 11.
This is God speaking.
Look among the nations and see.
Wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
This is God saying, I am doing a work.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation
who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome.
Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves,
meaning it's not existent in them.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves.
Their horsemen press proudly on.
The horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle, swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
That is, set on that violence.
They gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
They built these big earth ramps to get into fortresses.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on.
Now, listen to this little phrase that comes next.
Guilty men,
whose own might is their God.
You see that God says,
I'm raising up the Chaldeans, right?
I'm giving them this power that they have,
and that might is their God,
and they are guilty of this activity.
Yet, He ordains,
He orchestrates them to accomplish His purpose.
In this case,
that's the judgment of Israel.
You see it in that text there.
Now, as I mentioned previously,
the only alternatives to this perspective
has been deemed heretical,
and we would do well to keep ourselves
from thinking in these ways
or functioning with these kinds of thoughts
fueling us.
There's two.
Two I just want to point out to you.
The first is called dualism.
Dualism states that there's this cosmic war
between good and evil,
which I say to you is taking place,
but that we don't know the outcome of that war.
That the two are battling.
Who can know which will win?
God or Satan?
This is not the case, beloved.
God has conquered.
Jesus Christ has delivered the death blow to Satan.
Satan's not omniscient.
He's not omnipotent.
He's a created being.
God is the creator.
Satan is held on a very tight leash by our Lord.
Those things that he is allowed to do
are permitted by God.
The story of Job.
Job is a righteous man,
and Satan wants to tempt him,
and he comes and he asks permission of God to do this.
Another example of this is found in the temptation,
the prediction of Peter's denial.
Turn there with me.
Luke 22.
Beginning in verse 31,
Jesus says to Peter,
Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan demanded to have you
that he might sift you like wheat.
There's another request made here.
Satan comes to God and he says,
give me Peter.
I'm going to sift him out like wheat.
Verse 32,
but I have prayed for you
that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned again,
right, so he's going to deny Christ,
but he's going to turn back to Christ.
The prediction's right here.
When you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers.
Peter said to him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with you
both to prison and to death.
Jesus said, I tell you,
Peter, the rooster will not crow this day
until you deny three times that you know me.
You see it found right there in that text.
This is not dualism, right?
Jesus himself says,
I have prayed and you will turn back to me.
You will not be conquered by Satan.
Dualism is a heresy
and should not be considered.
We should not say,
now, was Satan in some way active
and participating in these attacks?
I couldn't say.
I don't know.
Again, he can't be all places at all times.
Maybe he was someplace else
carrying out some greater atrocity.
Was there some spiritual power at play
in that activity?
I would say to you,
yes, there was.
But it didn't escape God.
It didn't conquer him.
God wasn't pushed back at bay
so that this thing could happen.
God ordained that it would.
The second one is called open theism.
And there are a lot of people in our day
that are open theists,
whether they realize it or not.
Open theism.
Also, the heresy.
Open theism says
that we are entirely free agents.
Basically, that we can do
whatever we want to do.
And I agree that we have free will.
It just depends on what you mean by free.
It's a whole other conversation
for another time or times, perhaps.
But it would say that we're totally free
and God doesn't know
what will necessarily happen,
but He knows all possible outcomes
and He works in response
to man's activity.
That's open theism.
That we're directing our own paths.
And it's based loosely
on some responses in the Scripture,
some places that it's recorded
as if God changed His mind
in the Old Testament.
It's got very shifting ground
to stand on biblically.
Most often, it's a work
of human logic.
Trying to make sense
of how it is in this world
that God can permit
such things to happen.
And that would be to say
that these men freely chose
and now God steps in
and He responds.
Oh, what can I redeem
out of this situation?
Look at my people
doing the wrong thing once again.
How can I step in
to the midst of all of that?
God really goes on trial
at times like this.
But God has spoken to us
from His Word.
And the next question
that seems to be begged is then,
how can a good God
permit such things to happen?
Beloved, I would say to you
that we just have to be
so careful in our understanding
of what is good.
The greatest and the highest good
that we can possibly have
is God Himself.
And how He orchestrates
all of these things
to that great end
is beyond me.
Maybe a wiser man,
but I don't think so.
Paul said in Romans 11,
33-36,
all of the depths
of the riches
and wisdom
and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable
are His judgments
and how inscrutable
or unknowable,
that's what that means,
His ways.
For who has known
the mind of the Lord
or who has been
His counselor
or who has given
a gift to Him
that He might be repaid
for from Him
and through Him
and to Him
are all things,
including tragedies,
terrorist attacks,
to Him
be glory forever.
Amen.
And Paul gets to
the higher purpose
of all things,
does he not?
The glory of God.
God is firstly
and foremostly,
that may not be a word,
concerned with His glory.
This is what He's seeking out.
God is God-centered.
It would be horrible
for us to be man-centered,
but we're not God.
God is the greatest thing,
the Creator.
We're all creation
and we should all rightly
worship Him.
So He's working these things
for that high good
in some way.
that we may never comprehend
on this side of glory.
And the problem
with both of us
is that we don't think
of good
in the right way.
C.S. Lewis wrote
in the book
The Problem of Pain,
We want,
in fact,
not so much
a Father in Heaven
as a Grandfather
in Heaven,
a senile benevolence
who,
as they say,
liked to see young people
enjoying themselves,
and whose plan
for the universe
was simply
that it might be
truly said
at the end of each day
a good time
was had
by all.
This is not the God
of Scripture.
This God
ordains all things
and works all things
and brings all things
underneath
His goodness to us
that He would
give Himself
to us.
So secondly,
what is God
working to accomplish
by allowing
the terror attacks
in Paris?
His glory,
and I've said that already,
primarily,
I think that's the
single answer to this,
and there may be
a subset
of other answers.
As I've said,
I don't even know
that I could wrap my mind
completely around
those things.
But He is
seeking His glory
in this thing
specifically
by calling
all men
to repent.
By calling
all men
to repent.
Let me show you
another text of Scripture.
Luke chapter 13.
I love the Gospels.
I love the record
of Jesus'
conversations.
I love
reading passages
of Scripture
where you expect,
having some
theological
education
of my own,
you would expect
He would answer
in a particular way.
Like, oh,
I know how Jesus
is going to answer
this one.
And then He answers
it in a completely
different way,
the perfect way.
Luke chapter 13,
verse 1.
There were some
present at that
very time
who told Him
about the Galileans.
these would be
Galilean Jews
whose blood
Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices.
And what seems
to have happened here,
there's not a lot
of extra-biblical
resources that tell us
much about this.
Pilate,
the Roman governor
over the province,
was a cruel man
in so many ways.
We have a group
of Galilean Jews
who are making sacrifices,
which means this was
likely at Passover
because there was
so much sacrifice
being done
that the priests
couldn't keep up with it.
So, everyone got involved.
So, they were actually
at the temple
in Jerusalem
making sacrifice.
And what's meant
by this idea
that Pilate mingled
their blood
is that they were
killed in the temple.
That they were massacred
in the temple.
We don't know how many,
but Galilean Jews
were murdered
by Pilate
as they were there
doing the
quote-unquote
good activity
of worship to God,
giving sacrifice,
to God.
They were killed.
And so, they
asked this question,
what about this thing
that has happened
and how does Jesus
answer?
And he answered them,
do you think
that these Galileans
were worse sinners
than all the other
Galileans
because they suffered
in this way?
The Jewish understanding
of punishment
in the world
was that they had
done something?
Necessarily,
these Galileans
must have sinned
if this type of a judgment
was brought on them
in this world.
They couldn't have been
without guilt
if they were punished
in this way.
And Jesus' response
to them is to say,
of course they were
with guilt.
Just like you're
with guilt.
We're all with
the same guilt.
Pilate.
And he goes on
and he uses
a natural disaster.
So, here's Pilate
probably by the hands
of soldiers
murdering Galilean Jews.
And he says,
no, I tell you,
but unless you repent,
you will all likewise
perish.
Or those 18
on whom the tower
in Siloam fell
and killed them,
do you think
that they were
worse offenders
than all the others
who lived
in Jerusalem?
No.
I tell you,
but unless you repent,
you will all likewise
perish.
So, events like this
that we're discussing
this morning,
this terrorist attack
in Paris, France.
With these events,
God makes a cry out
into the world,
repent.
Repent.
I point out four words
to you from this passage.
All.
No one is exempt.
No one is exempt
from the just
condemnation of God
for sin.
Romans 3.10,
none is righteous.
No, not one.
3.23,
for all has sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
Apart from repentance,
everyone is guilty.
Equally so,
those who were murdered
in France
and those who did
the murdering
in France
under the just
condemnation of God
if they didn't repent.
And we can't be too sure
of those victims.
They're all.
No one is exempt.
We're all under this
condemnation
apart from
repentance.
Did you use the word
likewise?
These people didn't
expect their end
would come
in this way
and neither will you,
but it will
come
and we will
perish.
I don't think here
he's talking about
a physical death.
He's not suggesting
that if you repent,
you'll have
eternal life
here
in these bodies.
Not a physical death,
but I think he's referring
to a final judgment
and the eternal punishment
that comes
beyond that.
This is what he means
by the word
perish.
There's another place,
John 3.16,
for God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son
that whoever believes
in him
should not
perish
but have
eternal life.
And this comes to us
through repentance.
Unless you repent,
that is that you turn
from your evil
and you turn
to God
and the way
that this happens
is through the personal
work of Jesus Christ.
Faith in
Christ.
This will be
your end.
This will be
their
end.
God cries out
to the world,
repent.
This life is fleeting.
It is short.
Evil runs rampant.
I have promised
to return.
repent.
In Luke 11.32,
Jesus says,
the men of Nineveh
will rise up
at the judgment
with this generation
and condemn it.
For they repented
at the preaching
of Jonah
and behold,
something greater
than Jonah
is here.
Jesus Christ
calls us
to repent.
Listen to the
repentance
of the Ninevites.
Jonah 3.5-9,
and the people
of Nineveh
believed God.
Remember,
Jonah comes
and preaches
to them
and the record
is that they
believed God.
They called
for a fast
and put on
sackcloth.
This was a common
sign of repentance
in the day.
From the greatest
of them
to the least
of them.
The word
reached the king
of Nineveh
and he arose
from his throne,
removed his robe,
covered himself
with sackcloth
and sat in ashes.
And he issued
a proclamation
and published
through Nineveh
by the decree
of the king
and his nobles,
let neither man
nor beast,
herd nor flock
taste anything.
Let them not feed
or drink water,
but let man
and beast
be covered
with sackcloth
and let them
call out mightily
to God.
Let everyone,
this is this picture
of repentance,
turn from his evil way
and from the violence
that is in his hands.
Who knows?
God may turn
and relent
and turn
from his fierce anger
so that we may not
perish.
And we know
if we read on
that he did in fact
relent
from his punishment
to the Ninevites.
So where does that
leave us?
What does that leave us?
God's calling out
in these types
of activities
for repentance.
Well, firstly,
we need to pray
for repentance.
Have you prayed
one time
since a week ago
Friday
for the repentance
of the world
in light
of this type of thing?
I would encourage
you to do so.
This shock wave
that has gone
around the world.
Don't let it be wasted.
Life is short.
It is fleeting.
It is passing.
And those who don't
repent will
perish.
This should be
a very clear reminder
to us of that.
A bunch of young people
enjoying themselves
at a rock show
and someone
opened fires
inside.
Never safe
apart from Christ.
Pray for repentance.
Pray
for the perpetrators
of such acts
and those who are
going to come
behind them.
The waves
of terror
that we're going
to experience
in this world.
Pray for them
as well.
And I know
that is hard.
My mind
and my heart
immediately goes
to pray for vindication.
Vindicate your people.
Punish and destroy.
Eternal damnation
is what they deserve.
God has been good
to us
even though
we were his enemy.
They are no more
his enemy
than we were.
The Ninevites
are a wonderful
example of this.
You know why Jonah
didn't want to go
to the Ninevites?
Because the Ninevites
were wickedly evil
and had been horrible
to Israel.
They were known
for cutting off
limbs of their captors,
for skinning them alive.
Horrible,
horrible things.
Atrocities
had been delivered
upon the Israelites.
Jonah was afraid
that God would
actually save them.
He can't possibly
go to them.
pray for ISIS.
Pray for the radical Muslims
in the world.
God is greater
than their upbringing
and their ideologies.
We ought not only pray
for repentance,
we should go
to the world.
There's so much
tragic death.
There's so much
evil.
To keep our analogies
together,
we call this darkness.
And we're meant
to be light
in those places.
We're not meant
to huddle together
as light
in a singular spot.
Hear me say this,
church.
The church of Christ
is gathered together
in order
for us
to go.
This is the mission
of the church.
All the good
that we do together,
all the bringing
of our minds together,
all the prayers,
the shifting of our hearts,
all of those things
are meant
for us
to go.
And I will say
this to you,
I praise God
for so much
health
in this congregation,
so many good things,
so many evidences
of His work,
but I will say
to you,
I cannot say
this church is healthy
until this church
is going.
Let's go.
People are perishing.
Let's go to France.
Let's go to Syria.
Let's go to Iraq
and Iran.
Right?
These people need
the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Pray for repentance.
Go.
Go to your neighbor.
Go to your classmate
and your workmate.
Let's go.
God is providential
in the terror attacks
in Paris.
He ordained it
and other calamity
in the world
for the sake of His glory,
specifically
by calling all men
to repent.
I appreciated
John Piper
in an NPR interview
after the Indian Ocean tsunami
in 2004.
You recall,
that happened
the day after Christmas
in 2004.
So early January 2005,
he was interviewed
on NPR
and he just did
such a wonderful job
of honoring God
in the way
he explained this.
But he said,
and I just want you
to hold this phrase,
God is always
mingling mercy
and judgment.
And this is what God
did on behalf
of the preacher.
Ecclesiastes 4,
1 through 3,
again I saw
all the oppressions
that are done
under the sun
and behold
the tears
of the oppressed
and had no one
to comfort them.
On the side
of their oppressors
there was power
and there was no one
to comfort them.
And I thought
the dead
who are already dead
more fortunate
than the living
who are still alive.
But better than both
is he
who has not yet been
and has not seen
the evil deeds
that are under
the sun.
You hear just
the defeat
in the writing
of the preacher.
Oh, meaningless.
Meaningless.
Look at all
of the evil.
It would be better
not to be alive.
It would be better
to be already dead
and to witness
the evil
of this day.
But by the time
he gets
to Ecclesiastes 12
in his summary
God has moved
his heart
and he says
the end of the matter
all has been heard.
Fear God
and keep
his commandments
for this is the whole
duty of men.
Let's pray.