26/03/2026
Ernest Hemingway's first full-length novel features hard-drinking friends who've recently endured world war I. They bear the literal and figurative scars of the war's devastation and try to cope with it via parties, grand adventures, and sleeping around always, there is alcohol to numb the pain. No one is happy.
Hemingway's title for his book the The Sun also Rises comes straight from the page of Ecclesiastes (1:5). In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon refers to himself as 'the teacher" (V1). He observes, "everything is meaningless" (v2) and asks, "what do people gain from all their labors" (v3). Solomon saw how the sun rises and sets, the wind blows to fro, the rivers flow endlessly into a never satisfied sea (VV. 5-7). Ultimately, all is forgotten (v11).
Both Hemingway and Ecclesiastes confront us with the stark futility of living for this life only. Solomon, however, weaves bright hints of the divine into his book. There is permanence-and real hope. Ecclesiastes shows us as we truly are, but it also shows God as He is. "Everything God does will endure forever, "said Solomon (3:14), and therein lies our great hope. For God has given us the gift of His Son, Jesus.
As we begin this new year, let's remember that apart from God, we're adrift in an endless, never satisfied sea. Through His risen Son, Jesus we're reconciled to him, and we discover our meaning, value and purpose.
What occupies your time and what meaning does it hold?
How might your change your priorities this year to follow Jesus?
Loving Father, please help me find my fulfilment in you, in Jesus mighty name Amen.
Ctto:ODB (Annual edition volume 35)