¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned …

Death is a reality of life—such an odd thing when you think about it. A person lives his or her entire life (whether long or short), and then it is over and the world continues on as it was before. Like a drop of water causing a brief ripple in time, absorbed into the undulating ocean of history. A few photographs and a headstone are all that’s left. A few make it into ink markings on pages of history—but their glory is long past, and the historical figure of our imagination replaces the real individual. What benefit does that glory accrue to them now? Some have argued that William Shakespeare did not actually write any of the plays attributed to him, but they were penned by someone else. What does it really matter today, other than to satisfy our curiosity or affect the income of Shakespearean scholars? One either enjoys the writings of so-called Shakespeare or one does not, regardless of who was the real author. The identity of the man is inconsequential at this point, if not to us today, at least to the actual individual who wrote. Such is life and death.

Nihilists tell us that life, therefore, is meaningless. Even the book of Ecclesiastes says, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever … all things are wearisome; man is not able to tell it … That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:1b-4, 8). Pessimistic to be sure, all things remain the same “under the sun.” And so the Preacher finished his tome on the meaning of life, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them’; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened…’ ” (Eccl 12:1–2).

Before age darkens life with its troubles and weariness, one needs to establish a life of faith in the God who is above the undulating waves of time and history, and see this life “under the sun” with God’s interpretation. The struggles of our fallen world cast a long, foreboding shadow that brings many worries and doubts. But the cycle of death was not the original plan. The Garden sin has brought continuous ripples that form the swells of history and are experienced by every individual as repeated crashes on the shores of his or her life.

Lord, despite sin and the prospect of death in my life, I trust in You as my anchor in the seas of doubt and temptation.