Nothing new under the sun
Prior to the late seventies and early eighties, computers were huge monsters that filled whole rooms. A hand-held model, such as is available today, would have been science fiction. It seems that just about every part of our lives is exposed to computers. Whatever we do, the computer is making it easier, although I do sometimes feel moved to ask ‘easier for whom?’
However, this is ‘ Progress’ and we are stuck with it! I wonder what kind of terminology (that we haven’t yet even heard or thought of) will be in common use, twenty years from now. I really don’t have a clue, but the prospect fills me with excitement – and some trepidation.
When e-mail first became commonplace, most of us marvelled at the wonder of communicating so quickly and cheaply with family, friends and colleagues all over the world. But now we have to wade through hundreds and thousands of unwanted e-mails.
We can be sure of one thing. As each step is taken in technological advancement, new problems will appear. We will not have more leisure time, we’ll just spend more time debugging technology. That’s the nature of change. So, what’s new? Many thousands of years ago the writer of Ecclesiastes, knowing all about this problem, said: “There is nothing new under the sun. All is vanity”.
While Technology changes constantly, God’s presence remains constant . When the world seems to be on collision course, stay with God. Ecclesiastes concludes with words that say, in effect, that the thing to do is:
“Stand in awe of God and keep God’s commandments. This is our whole duty as humans.”