I once visited a woman who was dying. She laid on her back for months unable to catch full breaths only able to get up once or twice a day for a few minutes each time. I would just stop by and read to her or talk to her for a while. She wanted to have the Bible read to her so that's what I did. After that, she wanted to talk even though that was difficult for her, but she had regrets that she wanted to share. I remember her regrets clearly.
She regretted not knowing the Bible better. When I first visited her, she asked me to read the 23rd Psalm and then she asked me where it was in the Bible. She didn't realize that it was found in exactly the place that it was named--the twenty-third Psalm. She also regretted not having done more for the LORD. She even wanted to volunteer right there in her last few days to do something for her church. She wanted to use the last bit of time she had for Him before she saw Him. Her regrets reminded me of Solomon's in Ecclesiastes.
Solomon had been king of Israel forty years. He accomplished every goal any person today could attain to be considered successful in the eyes of the world. He built the temple and homes for himself and others. He gained respect by those who knew of him because of his wisdom. He built relations between his country and others. He had more wealth than any other king of that time. In the eyes of mankind, he was the epitome of a success.
But as Solomon's body gave way to age, his own mortality loomed before his eyes and the finiteness of all he accomplished plagued his mind. "Vanity of vanities...all is vanity" (Ecc. 1:2).
The LORD told him early in his reign "if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked...there shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel" (I Kings 9:4,5). Solomon knew that though he accomplished all that the world considered great, his accomplishments meant nothing. He didn't walk with the LORD as his father had and now as he faced the eternal, the prospect of what may happen to the throne reminded him of what was most important, the thing he had not done...fearing the LORD and keeping His commandments.
I feel quite a bit like Solomon myself minus the great accomplishments, but including the frustration of realizing how much of my time has been wasted by not concentrating on simply fearing Him and keeping His commandments but instead paying heed to much of the traditions of mankind even in our churches.
No comments:
Post a Comment