The sorrows that befall alike both righteous and wicked during the short years of our lives will always be a mystery to the natural mind and eye. Only faith can see beyond natural sight and understand. Solomon, like ourselves, sought to find some satisfying portion in earthly things, but did not find it. The sameness of all that ever happens, the weary labor that all creation shares in performing and the sorrows and unrest of all things burdened his spirit. The sun rises and goes down and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind repeats its sounds, all the rivers run into the sea and yet the sea is not full; the water returns to its sources to run the same race again. "All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it" (Eccles. 1:88All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. (Ecclesiastes 1:8)). The tenor of it presses down upon the soul, and we might ask, Why is all this? What fruit is there in any labor under the sun?
Solomon, the Preacher, proved all things and found nothing to rest in, nothing enduring and nothing but what is vanity. He tried pleasure, but it was all "vanity and vexation of spirit [pursuit of the wind]." He sought to find joy in wisdom, for he saw that wisdom excelled folly as light excelled darkness, but this, too, was vanity, for death overtakes all. What good was there in anything? All things had to have their season and nothing lasted. And even worse than all that, wickedness was in the place of judgment and the oppressor in the place of power. The slothful and the miserly were alike vanity. Wisdom too, was emptiness, for it gained nothing for its owner but increased capacity to suffer (vs. 18)
Why all this? The answer Solomon came to is this: "This sere travail hath God given to the suns of man to be exercised therewith." The travail is, indeed, sore and the exercise of heart induced by it is deep. But we learn front it, for it makes us long for something better than the best things earth can furnish.
This answer is as far as Solomon with all his wisdom could go: he could close the door on earthly hopes for lasting joy. The death and resurrection of a greater than he was needed to open the door to abiding and satisfying joys. Before Christ, man might discover the vanity of the world, and, in faith, trust God to solve all mysteries, but not tilt Christ came was the door opened to heaven. The only One who had a right to life had to die, be raised and ascended to His place on the Father's throne in order to give us real intelligence as to why the righteous suffer here.
In the triumph and glory of the Captain of our salvation we see the object in view and result to us of the sorrows we pass through. They are to fit us for that glory unto which Gad is now bringing many sans, there to share the company of Him who overcame for us. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." By suffering we are led more deeply into fellowship with Him and thus gain greater capacity to share His joy. Just as gold, by being beaten, becomes able to hold more, so we as vessels are hammered out that we may be able to hold a larger measure of joy when the reigning time comes.
When we grasp this, it gives power even to "glory in tribulations," and what a triumph of grace this is! But this is only as we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God." When that glory has become the hope of the soul, tribulations are accepted as being a part of the path to that glory. Suffering for Christ is just as much a gift of grace as believing. "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1:2929For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; (Philippians 1:29)).
Let our souls grasp the purpose of God in saving us-fellowship with Him in the coming glory-and tears are seen to be the needed watering of that which the sunshine of His grace has caused to spring up. And not one tear is lost. David could say in Psalm 56:88Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? (Psalm 56:8), "Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle." They are preserved to that day when each one seen in the sunbeams of God's glory will sparkle as a brilliant jewel. Jewels that are formed in these days of trial will be the everlasting reminders of that wonderful love that led us and bore us up through all our sorrows.
The Lord said, "Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:2020Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (John 16:20)). And it shall be so. He who, in fellowship with the rejected Lord, has trod a path of tears, will find that he has laid up for himself a larger treasure of jewels than he whose path was smooth and whose tears were fewer.
In trials the heart gains the capacity to enter into the Lord's mind as to ourselves and as to His things, and we may well conclude that the impressions made on the character are made for eternity.