by Zach Roll

There Are No Surprises.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 English Standard Version

If you’ve read through the book of Ecclesiastes, then you know that Solomon is brutally honest about this life on earth and everything it has to offer. He bluntly states a lot of things that many of us might want to say to God ourselves. However, I want to focus on this one verse for now: “There is nothing new under the sun.”

What does Solomon mean by that? Surely we experience new things everyday! On an individual level, we frequently experience new things. However, new experiences to us have “been there, done that” by many who came before us, and will be experienced by many people after us. New experiences are localized to the individual and the earth, but God has seen it all before.

What about technology and innovation? We see things being invented every single day. It seems like once we buy the latest and greatest phone, it is no longer the latest and greatest. It doesn’t take long for a better phone to be created. This isn’t new either. Sure the form has changed, but now we have put more things, that we have always used, into one device to make life so much easier for us.

What about all the atrocities of the world? We have all seen what destruction man can do to his neighbor. We see these tragedies on the news every day. Man has been committing horrible acts, against fellow man, ever since Cain murdered his brother Abel. Surely there is always something new under the sun.

That is not the case, however. We as humans experience new things. Things that catch us off guard. God is never off guard though, and nothing can throw God’s plan through a loop. God does not blink in the face of all that goes on in the world. God is sovereign, God is good, and we can trust Him. Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO