“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Sidney Greidanus

The paradox of this line reverberates a truth I see too much as a nurse. The more patients we admit, treat, and discharge, the more I realize that we are in a perpetual cycle. More CHF, more pneumonia, more re-admissions. With new evidence and research, we get better at treatment and identifying problems sooner, but – without fail – hospital census remains high, our beds full.

Healthcare workers are perhaps privileged to see an up-close example of the unchanged human condition and the reality of our world.

Even as our world becomes more connected and progressive, we still have the problems seen throughout history: genocides, abandonment, hunger, and sickness. In our modern world, we address problems different from our history. We have the Geneva Convention and specific laws for international warfare. We have both Child and Adult Protective Services. We have vaccinations and modern medicine. In a way, this is incredible progress. But these interventions are necessary because the fact remains: life on our planet has not really changed. Those with power will abuse it and oppress others for gain. People are prone to prejudice and capable of neglecting those in need. And sickness – no matter how advanced our technology – still causes suffering and death. And with our advances, we have also added equal ethical dilemmas. New life-saving medications are only accessed through significant financial means or the right insurance coverage. Cars come with accidents. International air travel could be a means of terrorist plots. The foster system, designed to care for abandoned children, can also be a place of more abuse and neglect. As we address problems, there is an interwoven complexity of new potential problems.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 opens with a poem that expresses the sediment I feel today.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises.

The wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

All streams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been already

in the ages before us.

There is no remembrance of former things,

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things yet to be

among those who come after.

The author of this book – from the ancient world – pours out his heart and his wrestling to which speak to us in the 21st century. The more life changes, the more it stays the same. Life in 2019 is drastically changed from the ancient world, but we as people, our problems, our worries, and our search for a purpose are fundamentally the same.

But if we stop here in Ecclesiastes, we miss the point and beauty of this book. This book teases out the blessings of life, and how without God, they are simply toil and meaningless.

This means that that pattern we observe is not all that there is. History is not merely a cycle of changing, it is the story of God’s redemptive plan.

We are not left on earth to simply pursue what pleasure we can and dodge suffering, we were meant to share the biggest event, the most radical change in all human history. God sent Jesus into our actual historical timeline to answer for suffering and to redeem every square inch of creation.

Sidney Greidanus writes, “As the redemptive history progresses, therefore, there are new events, new realities, and new hopes that God will make all things new. Although people gain nothing from all their toil apart from God, through Jesus Christ there is much to be gained from our toil.”

I stated earlier that healthcare workers are privileged to see an up-close example of the unchanged human condition. We must confront more quickly how depressing and cyclical this life can be on its own. We see the same sufferings and literally the same patients over and over who are dying a slow death from their afflicted chronic illnesses. Often these patients come to us for a patch-up job, just enough to go to a skilled nursing inpatient facility until the next hospital re-admission. They continue with every medical option available because they are tormented by the thought of death.

As Christians, we were meant to share the biggest historical event. We are meant to share that Jesus paid the price for our sin, the precursor to our suffering. We are meant to share that this life is not meaningless, but that we are called to live God’s love for people. We are meant to share the good news that this suffering we see was not God’s intention for creation, but that God uses our suffering to draw us to himself. We are meant to share that one day, all things will be new.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Let our co-workers and patients see that we do not cope through jaded cynicism or compartmentalization. Let them see how deep we mourn the sufferings of this world. And let them see how our sufferings cause us to turn to Jesus who gives meaning and hope that transcends our circumstances.

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“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. “

John 16: 20-22