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DEATH & WISDOM
5 April 2015
The recent passing away (23 March 2015) of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew gives us a good time of reflection on King Solomon’s teaching in Ecclesiastes 7. It is indeed an opportune time to reflect and learn how death can be seemingly better than life and mourning being better than feasting. Mourning and sorrow, compared to laughter and feasting provide us with opportunities to reflect on the brevity of life. This is in fact in line with the wise words of Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom “, where “The prayer of Moses, the man of God” teaches us about numbering our days.
Ecclesiastes 7 starts off with the advice that a good name is better than fine perfume. A legacy can be passed down through generations but a fragrance lingers only for a few hours. In between life and death, we have the opportunity to live well, leave behind a lovely fragrance and make a good name for ourselves. Alternatively, we can take each day as it comes, “Que Sera Sera” (Whatever will be will be), without any purpose or goal, and leave nothing behind when we pass on. It’s good to laugh and be merry, but let us not be fools, and indulge in meaningless pursuits of temporal happiness. Let us take this prevailing season of mourning especially to ask God for his wisdom, and reflect on what and how we want to fill our lives.
Our God can bless us with the wisdom to count mourning and sorrow, tests and adversity as times of refining. We may be tempted to compare our situations with others, compare our current predicament with our good ‘old days’ and lose sight of God’s goodness to us. Ecclesiastes 7:12 mentions about how wisdom is a shelter which preserves the life of its possessor. Indeed, wisdom is a gift from God that guides us through difficult times and reassures us of his presence, giving us hope and preserving our lives. God allows us to go through the good and the bad, for reasons we cannot explain. Either way, we cannot make straight what God has made crooked. Instead, we can choose to trust that nothing is outside God’s sovereign plan for us and that He only gives us His best (Matthew 7:11, Romans 8:32). Thus, we can be glad and thankful when times are good. In bad times, we can remember that He made the one as well as the other and He will give you only what you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).
