There is nothing new under the sun.
—Ecclesiastes 1:9
On November 11, 1918, World War I ended. The death count was 9 million combatants and 13 million civilians.
During the same year, the Spanish flu terminated more lives than the war—50 million.
There was a collective hope that it would be “the war to end all wars,” and that medical discoveries would end pandemics.
Neither happened. “What has been will be again . . . there is nothing new under the sun,” wrote the sage of Ecclesiastes. That wasn’t a pessimistic prediction but a this-is-life-on-earth precept.
Our role as Christians is to be emissaries of peace where there is conflict and peace of mind where there is pain—until that time comes when the Prince of Peace calls us home, where there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rv 21:4).
Troubles come and go.
God comes and stays.