As a kid I can remember hurrying home from school so I wouldn’t miss the Mickey Mouse club on TV. It always began the same way. All the Mousketeers (including every boy’s heart throb, Annette) would sing the theme song. I don’t remember all the words but I’ll never forget the opening words. They composed a question to which everyone knew the answer: “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?” If you’re as old as I am you can probably still hear them spell out the answer. In Ecclesiastes 6:11-12 Solomon concludes his arguments on why the most satisfying kind of life is the life that trusts God. These verses include two questions. Everyone already knows the answers: “In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow. Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?” Everyone knows the answer to both questions is “God knows.”
The first question asks, “Who knows what is good for us?” God does! John Piper asks, “What does that mean? It means the same thing that Romans 8:28 means: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. God takes ‘all things’ and makes them serve our ultimate good. It doesn’t mean we get everything our imperfect hearts want. It means we get what’s good for us.” Solomon wants us to see that this proves we can trust God,
The second question asks, “Who knows what’s going to happen next?” God does! Wiersbe writes, “In spite of what the astrologers, prophets, and fortune tellers claim, nobody knows the future except God. It is futile to speculate.” Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd who loves the sheep so much He gave His life for them. Matthew 9:36 tells us that when Jesus “saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Let me ask a couple more questions in closing. Do you feel weary today? Do thoughts of an uncertain future make you feel anxious, worried, and nervous? Does your life seem scattered, out of control, and frenetic? That about sums it up for me. But it does my heart good when I remember that Jesus knows the future, not just the future in general, He knows my future! He is filled with compassion for me as one of His sheep. Ok, one more question each of us will have to answer for ourselves: Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?