Ecclesiastes 10

Solomon begins this chapter with an interesting proverb: “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (vs 1) He’s saying that it takes far more energy to create something beautiful than it does to muck it up. And unfortunately, in this world, there are people who would rather spend their time going around tearing things down than building things up.

I’m sorry, did I say, in this world?! I didn’t mean to single out this behavior as something that only happens “under the sun.” Actually, this behavior got its start long ago, in a place far away: “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Rev 12:7-9)

My father used to use a quote of Don Snyder’s in his wedding homilies—that we could all wish to be preceded in this world by a love story. But the universal truth about this world is that it was preceded by a war story. Satan decided to be a dead fly in God’s heavenly ointment, and he quickly mucked up what—up to that point—had been nothing but beauty and harmony. It didn’t take very long to destroy the paradise God had created.

I suppose, when faced with such a situation, the easiest thing to do is to throw out the batch of dead-fly-perfume and start over again. And God certainly could have done that very thing with His rebellious children. When Adam and Eve decided to join the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, He could have wiped out the Earth and started over with it, too.

But He didn’t.

Instead, God took the long way. He committed Himself to undoing the damage that had been caused so quickly and carelessly—no matter the cost. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater (or, in this case, the dead flies with the perfume), God has done what it takes to restore the perfume to its original condition. Actually, more incredible than that, He is somehow making it better than it was to begin with.

God takes the long way home. He has never taken the easy way out. He has never shirked an ounce of responsibility—even when the mess wasn’t His to clean up in the first place! He is in this for the long haul. He is totally committed to you, to me, to the human race, and to His universe at large. He will do whatever it takes to restore the beauty and harmony of the paradise He created.