Moment in the Word

Ecclesiastes 1:2  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

 

Occasionally, final outcomes fall short of original good intentions. As an old man, King Solomon listed his youthful goals and then measured his life's worth based on the end result. In retrospect, he sadly concluded that his existence was entirely spent in vain.

 

What a tragedy to expect much in the beginning but realize little in the end!

 

At Creation, we see the fading glimmer of God's expectation at the close of the sixth day when He created man, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31

 

However, prior to the first universal apocalypse, the Creator faced an entirely different reality than in the Beginning, "The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled." Genesis 6:6

 

Except for one man named Noah who found favor in God's sight (Genesis 6:8), Creation proved to be a total waste of time. God's first great work culminated in vanity and was destroyed in the end.

 

Israel, an Old Testament prefigure of Christ's Church, was picked to be a light to the nations; however, when the time came for God's people to bring forth new life on earth, they only broke wind, "We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world." Isaiah 26:18

 

Despite God's great investment in His people, the original plan ended in vanity, "He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. " Isaiah 5:2

 

In the end, the Almighty wasted His precious time providing salvation for Israel, "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." Jeremiah 8:20

 

So, what about America? How are we doing after two hundred, fifty years? What kind of dividend will we get in comparison to the investment made between 1775 - 2020?

 

In eleven major wars during our country's short history, 1,304,680 young men and women have given their lives to guarantee our Constitution and protect our Bill of Rights. Today, as we watch America's spiritual and political resolve wane, I wonder... was it worth it, or did our sons and daughters sacrifice their lives in vain? Similar to Solomon's evaluation of life, merit is not measured based on the initial design but rather how the plan ends.

 

Late one Saturday evening, April 26, 1777, John Adams wrote a letter to his beloved wife Abigail. Throughout his correspondence, he explained how incredibly difficult his task was to secure liberty for a new nation. Toward the end, he spoke generally of a time to come, "Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."

 

Did you hear what John Adams said to us?

 

Our Founding Father knew the danger of Americans becoming careless, apathetic, and lazy. He realized in the future, when we no longer care, that the suffering, deprivation, and sacrifice his generation made were useless efforts spent in vain.

 

So, is this where we stop? Are we ready to quit? Do we mind having our liberties robbed? Can we casually allow the tattered banner to fall or the fleeting dream to die and never bequeath the same hope to our children's children as our fathers passed it to us? Will we allow an untold quantity of patriots' blood to soak vainly into the dirt without a twinge of remorse that their lives were squandered so cheaply and thanklessly while defending us who no longer care?

 

In the end, was the experiment in American liberty worthless and vain? This current generation will decide that answer.