Sadness

The sadness of those who see, and the power of those who believe

“For in much wisdom there is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sadness.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18)

Solomon reached the limit of reason. He saw too much. And whoever sees too much, suffers.
The increase of knowledge brought him awareness, but also disillusionment.
The mind expanded, but the heart emptied.
He came to know the truth without the Spirit, and discovered that, without grace, knowing weighs heavy.

Jesus, on the other hand, grew differently.

“And Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and grace before God and men.” (Luke 2:52)

Here is the antidote to Ecclesiastes.
The wisdom of Christ did not come from rational searching, but from communion with the Father.
He grew in wisdom together with grace.
That is why his knowledge did not produce sadness, but life.
In Jesus, mind, body and spirit mature in harmony.

But the natural man remains blind.
And whoever cannot see has to learn to walk by hearing.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

Faith is the sense that man lost in Eden
it is the proof that there are things the eyes cannot see.
That is why victory in this world comes by faith.

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith.” (1 John 5:4)

But… what do we do when people cannot hear?
When we speak of what the Spirit shows us and we realize the other person is deaf, trapped in their own noise?

An example of this sadness

Recently I lived this with a dear friend.
He is hurt by a conflict with other friends, and I wanted to draw near with affection.
While he spoke, I listened carefully, already knowing what he was saying.
When silence seemed to arrive, I tried to share something that might help him, but as soon as I began to speak, he interrupted me and started the same speech again, in the same way, going back to the same point.
I fell silent.
I waited for him to ask, or to want to listen, but that did not happen.
I felt sad… with that human feeling of having wasted time.

But afterwards I realized: it was God who made me feel what He feels.
Because this is exactly how He listens to us every day.
We speak, we vent, we repeat, we complain, and we rarely stop to listen to what the Father wants to tell us.
Even so, He does not give up.
The Spirit remains there, patient, waiting for the moment when our heart grows quiet.

This is the sadness of those who see…
But it is also the power of those who believe.
To believe is to keep on loving, even without being heard.
It is to keep speaking with tenderness, even before closed ears.
It is to remain without hardening the heart.

Because faith is not only the proof of things unseen
it is also the voice of the unseen within us.

And whoever can still hear this voice…
is not just seeing, but is being led by the very Spirit of God.