Here’s an irony, the likes of which Ecclesiastes gets it reputation:
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.*
I can just picture the old man, having seen so much that’s wrong with the world he just wags his head, eyes down, his long gray beard swishing across his chest. He’s seen so much that doesn’t compute, in the end it all just seems meaningless.
The fact is, however, it’s not the end.
Every life only sees a segment of the middle. In the end it all comes together, if we could live long enough to see it.
This is irony: Life’s rules would predict one thing but then the opposite happens. It’s so common I’ve sometimes thought life’s not just full of irony, LIFE IS IRONY.
Seeing that it’s part of life at least provides a sense of detachment . . . and the wry smile that keeps us from going crazy.
One of the things I like about Ecclesiastes is that it observes the world as it is, not how we think it should be. That’s true wisdom.
It could also be true cynicism (something Ecclesiastes is often misunderstood as expounding). But a cynical view is not the whole picture either. True wisdom looks beyond even that.
And faith, farther still.
Note what shortly follows:
Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God.**
That’s faith: When I see one thing but know another. When I accept that the facts are not all in, that the total picture is not yet finished.
So, when I see things that don’t make sense, when irony almost seems the rule instead of the exception, I have to know that there’s a bigger story . . . that I’m only seeing some section in the middle.
My vision may be limited, but my faith need not be.
When irony happens, just smile.
The bigger picture is still being painted.
_____________
* Ecclesiastes 7:15
**Ecclesiastes 8:15 ff
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
10:08 am
Thanks for the reminder! Shaking my head with a wry smile helps me sleep a lot better at night too than shaking my fists with a frown.
10:49 am
You’ve just defined the Kingdom paradox. Good reminder that I needed to hear today!
1:01 pm
“Things are not as they seem.” Famous phrase from Lord of the Rings, yet so true. It’s our fractured nature to be so bent on repairing the ironic twists, yet we find that God is more interested in our finding him, than he is in fixing us. We want immediate happiness, he desires ultimate joy, which often requires us to go through the fires, with Him. So true we say, “How weird, why would this happen to me?” when, all the while, God sees a happiness beyond our wildest dreams as we develop, in our hurt, that solid confidence and trust in his goodness. Isn’t it the ironic stuff that makes for a good novel?
3:04 pm
Irony abounds in the Bible, but it takes years, sometimes decades to recognize it. For instance, during the years when Moses was born the ruler of Egypt decreed that all Jewish boy babies be drowned. Moses not only escaped death, but was brought up for 40 years in the ruler’s household! That’s the first irony.
The second comes another 40 years later when the Egyptian ruler and all his army were drowned in the Red Sea. It took 80 years before the Moses, the Jewish baby who was supposed to have been drowned, stretched out his staff and the waters flooded back to drown the son of the ruler who decreed the drowning order, as well as the sons and grandsons of the Egyptians who had enforced the drowning of Jewish boy babies a generation or two earlier.
2:14 pm
Thanks for pointing this out – very ironic.
6:19 am
Loving the irony of your site not being blocked in China Hyatt! Thoroughly enjoying staying tuned into your blog.
8:20 am
Happy Thanksgiving Hyatt!!!!!!
wonderful words of wisdom – you would probably say “insight” as you are so humble
but I just wanted to drop you a quick hello and wish you and your beautiful family a
Happy Turkey Day and let you know I think of you often and love your writings :)
xoxox
Lora
9:43 am
I love the comfort of “every life only sees a segment
of the middle”
Thank You for reminding us!
Barbara Mitchiner
10:14 am
Thank you for your insightful blogs! I am always inspired. Your blog on irony happens spoke to me as we have just lost a very talented friend to breast cancer. A worship leader with piano and organ and vocal skills, Cut down in the prime of her life ,she was using her talents for The Lord . This is where trust in The Lord enters the picture. She is with Him . The wicked are left on earth hopefully with time to repent and become His followers! God is good all the time!
We have so much to be thankful for! I wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving!
Sue
2:19 pm
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Anne and your family. I’m thankful our paths crossed…God is good. My life is better having known you two!
Betty and for Dave