Reading The Proverbs With Timothy And Kathy KellerSýnishorn

 Absurdity

When disaster strikes the foolish, Wisdom laughs. Is this cruel? No. Wisdom here is a representative figure, and the laughter is not coldheartedness but a way to convey “the absurdity of choosing folly.” Albert Camus argued that our hearts long for love without parting, but a universe without God gives us only “the conscious certainty of death without hope.” This chronic lack of fulfillment Camus called “the Absurd.” He saw life as one long black comedy of incurably, unchangeably seeking things out of life that it simply cannot provide.

Camus thought there was no God. Proverbs knows there is, but it agrees that life lived without God will bring futility, because the things of the world cannot fulfill the deepest heart longings. You can never get out of romance, money, and accomplishment the fulfillment that only a relationship with God can bring. So life in a world without God will indeed feel futile and absurd. “The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish” (Proverbs 10:28).

Are you experiencing frustration and futility, even a sense of meaninglessness? Is there something in this world that has failed to satisfy? What can you do about that?

Prayer: Lord, older books and movies ended with good defeating evil, but today they depict life as dark and ambiguous, with no happy endings. Both views of the world are simplistic and foolish. You assure me that my life’s story will contain beauty and absurdity and will end in eternity. Renew that assurance in me today. Amen.

Excerpt from God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs by Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller

Reprinted by arrangement with Viking Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2017 by Timothy and Kathy Keller