Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, August 7, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Whoa. This is deep. I’m not entirely certain of what it means, which is why it jumped out at me for a devotion. I love the opportunity to dive in and grapple with the text! I imagine the Teacher (the writer of Ecclesiastes) is keeping with the theme that life is fleeting, and that there is nothing new under the sun. So when we are overwhelmed by our current circumstances and begin to despair about the state of things, we can take comfort in the fact that, really, it’s nothing new. The specifics might be different, but people have struggled with the harsh realities of existence from the beginning of time. No matter how unique we think our particular challenges might be, they’ve all happened before. And as for our fears about the future, they are pointless because it will be nothing substantively different than the present. Again, the specifics might be different, but the realities of the human condition are consistent.
I’m not sure what it means that God seeks out what has gone by. Completed flummoxed. I will leave you with that to grapple with today.
How do I interpret this last phrase of the verse?
