Where is the Progress?
Posted at Reformation Scotland:
Our moment in history is not marked for its optimism or positivity. Commentators on a range of cultural phenomena and from across the social spectrum discuss how things are only getting worse. Wherever we look, public services, consumer affairs, the creative industries, there is a sense that standards are in decline and have been for decades. Even upheavals in the political domain are less a sign of insightful new plans for workable improvement in people’s lives than a risk-taking turn to extremes born of a sense that there is nothing much really left to lose. Embittering the disappointment is the failure of our society’s myth that things are on an upward trajectory and can only get better. Even as Christians, we are often tempted to resentment and ask angrily why we have to put up with this when things were never this bad in the past. Without necessarily doubting that things have got worse over time, Alexander Nisbet reflects on why Ecclesiastes teaches us not to start asking, “What is the cause that the former days were better than these?” (Ecclesiastes 7:10) Misery comes from sin, and difficulties are an opportunity to depend more fully on the Lord. Redemption in Christ Jesus provides us with a hope for the world to come that lasts through and beyond the miseries and disappointments of this world. In the following updated extract, Nisbet urges us to avoid the response of frustration with our circumstances in providence and to take God’s way of contentment through self-abasement and heavenly wisdom.The main aim of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 7 is to reveal more about the way to true happiness and contentment, and to point out some remedies to the vexations which are incident to this life.
The question not to ask
In verses 9–10, the Preacher dissuades us from two things which are far contrary to the grace of patience. “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.”
The Preacher warns us against the very first sudden motions of anger or revenge against oppressors and the instruments of trouble (v.9). To have anger “resting” or being cherished in the heart is the habitual and allowed frame of those who are void of the saving knowledge of Christ. They are the ones who cherish angry feelings, and think over in detail all the ways they have been wronged, and feed on the contemplations of possible ways of revenge. They have no reluctance or grief about such a vengeful spirit, whereas, although a child of God may be assaulted with the impulse to revenge, yet he gives these impulses no permission to rest peaceably in his heart.
The Preacher warns us also against sinful quarrelling against the Lord for apparently making times more troublesome, and burdens heavier, than they used to be. This only indicates ignorance of the true state of times, foolish presumption in finding fault with His wisdom, and unbelief of his sovereignty. “Say not thou, ‘What is the cause that the former days were better than these?’ for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.”
