December 11, 2022

Ecclesiastes 1: 9, 10 (NIV)

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”?

We can’t be satisfied. Not because we are greedy, but because we are hungry for something not found on this earth.*

Solomon wasn’t quite right. Man has done things that had not been done in Solomon’s day. No one had walked on the moon. No one had dropped an atom bomb on another nation. Inventions, languages, clothing, lots of experiences that Solomon never had. But, when looking about us for new things under the sun, it is startling to realize that everything on the earth today has its genesis in Genesis. All the raw material in everything from humans to electronics was created in the beginning. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the dust on our furniture – none of it suddenly appeared today fully formed out of nothing from nowhere. 

Solomon may seem to have been a bit negative in his outlook, but he wasn’t referring to biology and man’s ingenuity. His basic premise is as true today as it was then: There is no permanent satisfaction in things. Once the novelty has worn off, we start looking for the next thing. But when Solomon asks if there is anything about which we can say, “Look! This is something new!” the answer is, “Yes.” We can say this because we live in the days of the new covenant (Matthew 26: 28). 

In fact, the Bible introduces several new things, including: 

· A new commandment (John 13: 34) 

· A new creation in Christ (II Corinthians 5: 17) 

· A new self (Ephesians 4: 24) 

· A new and living way (Hebrews 10: 20) 

· A new name (Revelation 2: 17) 

And finally, God announces, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21: 5) He made a point to tell John to write that down because his words “are trustworthy and true.” Words that are trustworthy and true – now there is something to find satisfaction in!

Neither things nor people can really appease our awful hunger if we are away from God.*