What Has Been Will Be Again

INTRO.- Sometimes life gets old. Does it not? If not, then you’re not human!

What has been will be again. Doesn’t life sometimes seem to be just a revolving door of sorts? Every day it’s the same old routine. Every month. Every year. Year in, year out.

ILL.- Marriage counselor to mother: "Do you feel that your role as a mother and homemaker is beneath you?" She replied, "No, I feel it’s beyond me!"

I am sure that some mothers feel that motherhood is beyond them…an endless cycle of doing laundry, cleaning house and cooking meals.

ILL- That’s like the Jim Bob Duggar family of Springdale, AR. Jim Bob (former state representative) and his wife Michelle have 16 kids. And she is only 39 years old. And they do laundry every day. No wonder!

For a long time they lived in a home was about 2400 square feet. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 washers and 3 dryers. They did 10 loads of laundry per day! And mama was getting up in the middle of the night to change loads from the washer to the drier.

Now in their new 7,000 sq ft. home they have four washers and four dryers. But I’m sure they still do laundry every day!

Wouldn’t that get old? Of course, everybody in that family has a job or a responsibility to fulfill.

What has been will be again.

ILL.- Employer to job seeker: How long did you work at your last job? Job seeker: Fifty-five years. Employer: How old are you? Job seeker: Forty-five years old. Employer: How could you work 55 years when you’re only 45 years old? Job seeker: OVERTIME.

I’m sure that some jobs seem like you worked there forever or put in a lot of overtime when it wasn’t even overtime! If you didn’t like your job then it probably seemed like overtime every day.

What has been will be again. Our text in Eccl. reads in V. 5-7

5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. What has been will be again.

6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. What has been will be again.

7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. What has been will be again.

I don’t understand how the sun, the wind and streams repeat their cycles, but I believe it. We’ve seen it over and over, time and time again. It’s the way God made them to work.

But just because much of life repeats itself it doesn’t mean that it is meaningless. Some of it is but some isn’t. Life doesn’t have to be meaningless or worthless. This is where the Lord comes in. Life is somewhat meaningless to the person who doesn’t know the Lord or His will for their lives. Knowing God can make all the difference in the world in the way you view life and live out your life!

This is why Rick Warren’s book, THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, has been a best seller. Rick shows us how getting connected with God and Christ through the church makes for a more meaningful life. And it’s the truth! Still, in our daily routines some things seem to be an endless cycle of boredom.

PROP.- Let’s think about some of these things with the idea of learning how to overcome boredom.

I. LEARNING IS WEARISOME, BUT DON’T STOP LEARNING

1:8 “All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.”

ALL THINGS ARE WEARISOME. At least, it seems that most things can become wearisome. They can become “old hat,” so to speak.

ILL.- Here are the farewell statements of a few former presidents, upon leaving the White House.

- George Washington: “I’d rather be in the grave than in the presidency again.”

- Thomas Jefferson: “Never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such relief as I shall in shaking off the shackles of power.”

- James Buchanan (to Lincoln): “If you are as happy, dear Sir, on entering this house as I am on leaving it, you are the happiest man in the country.”

- Lincoln, after having been in the White House a while: “I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail.”

- James K. Polk: “I shall be a happier man in my retirement.”

If these presidents thought the presidency was bad back then, they most certainly wouldn’t want the job now! Being the President of United States could become very wearisome!

But most things can become wearisome if we allow it to happen.