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W
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E all long for comfort.
I don't just mean that we yearn to be comfortable, though that may be
true also. I mean that we all want pain
relief. When we feel stressed,
repressed, oppressed and distressed, we all want help. It is commonly said that misery loves
company, but do we really just want others to suffer like us, or with us? Isn't there at least a part of our mind looking
for our companions to provide some relief for us?
Now, since so much of our existence is painful and
frustrating, Solomon tended toward despair as he looked around. Wouldn’t it be called despair when a
philosopher begins to commend the dead and the unborn as the happiest of all
humans (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3)? Any way you
cut it, Solomon was observing misery. And, perhaps lonely misery is the most
unbearable variety of irritations.
It seems to us that life without troubles altogether would
be best of all. But, Adam ruined that
for us all. So, the best we can hope for
in this life is a providential blessing of simplicity and quietness. Ecclesiastes
4:6 says, "Better is on handful with
quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of
spirit." But, if we can't find
that, let's be prepared for the worst by surrounding ourselves with positive
influences.
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