The only thing I may enjoy more than movies is music.* I even work to music. I am one of those people who has a soundtrack to my day, to my work day, to my life, going at almost all times. I often answer questions or respond to comments with a song, or at least with a lyric from a song. I get music. Music moves me.
My newest musical obsession is the newest New Order release, Music Complete.
The whole release is amazing (assuming you like New Order and their kind of music) but Restless stands out to me as a fantastic musical Reel Parable.
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Yeah, I really like the music. But more importantly than that, Restless is an AMAZING look into the book of Ecclesiastes.
Restless basically addresses Ecclesiastes 1:2:
“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”
“Restless”
What can you buy
That lifts a heavy heart up to the sky?
What makes your day?
What miracle of life
Has come to stay?
These are hypothetical questions and, in the context of the song, the answer is nothing. There is nothing we can buy to truly make us happy or to make the miracle of life stay.
This sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes 2:10-11.
I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. So all my accomplishments gave me joy; this was my reward for all my effort. Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”
I don’t know what Bernard Sumner (the lead singer and songwriter) means by this, but here is how I hear it. There is a certain “miracle” to life. We often talk about the “miracle of childbirth.”
Life *is* special.
But life leads to death.
As you may know, my wife and I have lost a son to brain cancer. (I wrote about it during Lent 2015.) Life is amazing, but death is inevitable. What is the best part of your day today? No matter what it is, death will (eventually) impose on your life.
It did mine.
It will to yours.
A taste of love
So sweet, so real you can’t let go
And how does it feel?
It feels so good…
But how much do you need? How much, how much do you need?
How much do you need? How much, how much do you need?
Yeah, sex is powerful, awesome, wonderful, amazing, complex and occasionally complicated. But sex is ultimately temporary.
Not only is it the basis of the “world’s oldest profession,” but even King David, a man after God’s own heart, succumbed to its pleasure.
But at the end of the day, sex is so very temporary. No one ever has a sexual experience that leaves them so satisfied that they never want to have sex again. Just as Ecclesiastes 2:1-2 tell us:
I thought to myself, “Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile.” But I found that it also is futile. I said of partying, “It is folly,” and of self-indulgent pleasure, “It accomplishes nothing!”
So how much do you need? More than could ever truly satisfy.
I want a nice car
A girlfriend who’s as pretty as a star
I want respect
As much, as much as I can get
But how much do you need? How much, how much do you need?
How much do you need? How much, how much do you need?
Bernard wants stuff – a nice car – a pretty woman, and as much respect as he can get. Who doesn’t, right?
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 even says that our reputation (some translation say respect) is better than precious perfume.
A good reputation is better than precious perfume; likewise, the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.
How much respect is enough?
It doesn’t matter. Those who are respected and those who are not all end the same way – death comes for us all.
Restless, I feel so restless
And in this changing world
I am lost for words
I feel so restless
Ain’t got no interest
I couldn’t care less
Can’t be a success
So what does all this wanting and feeling lead to? Restlessness.
No matter what he gets it is not enough. No matter what he does, it is never enough. He is – and we are – never satisfied.
All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing. (Ecclesiastes 1:8)
We are restless.
We are left wanting.
Nothing we know of – or can get – can truly satisfy.
Due to current studies
The fiscal climate isn’t looking good
Get out of town
The streets are running rivers full of blood
Life – and this world – is full of worry. As I write this there is a shrinking Middle Class. We are still coming out of the most recent recession. Most of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Even if you are doing great financially, we always seem to be on the brink of war. Most recently it was Paris and San Bernardino. Who knows where it will be tomorrow.
Life is hard. Who much his enough? I don’t know. It seems to me that no one is really satisfied with what they have.
The more I see
The less, the less that I believe
The more I hear
The less, the less that I perceive
Restless, I feel so restless
And in this changing world
I am lost for words
I feel so restless
Ain’t got no interest
I couldn’t care less
Can’t be a success
Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Fear God and obey Him. Pursue God and not simply pleasure.
Or, as the classic kid’s song goes:
Trust and obey
For there is no better way
to be happy in Jesus
than to trust and obey
So, you can be restless or you can rest in God. Take your pick.
If you think you would like this, go check out New Order’s Music Complete!
PS: If you don’t know about New Order you may still know Blue Monday. This was their biggest song
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PSS: I like New Order so much that I have told my kids that I want their song True Faith played at my funeral.
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*This is, of course, a comment on entertainment and pop culture and not a comment on my faith or my family. Yes, I love God and my family more than music and movies.
