Pastor Chen Min Lin spent eighteen years in a Chinese prison for preaching the gospel. While there, he continued to share Christ with the other inmates. When guards failed to silence him, they assigned him to one of the worst jobs imaginable: working in the prison cesspool, handling human waste for hours at a time.
Most of us would call that unbearable. It was filthy, lonely, humiliating work. The stench was so awful that no one wanted to come near him. Yet that very isolation became an unexpected gift. Pastor Chen later said that while in that cesspool, he was free to pray, sing, and worship God without interruption. What his captors meant for shame became a sanctuary. What appeared to be the worst kind of repetition became the place where he was able to meet with the Lord intimately.
That story is hard to read without feeling convicted. Many of us struggle to meet God in far easier circumstances. We grow weary of dealing with laundry, dishes, emails, traffic, caregiving, work routines, bills, appointments, and all the ordinary duties that seem to reset every morning. We finish one task, such as catching up on correspondence, only to find a number of new emails and texts to respond to tomorrow. Life can start to seem mundane—like a wheel that never stops turning.
King Solomon, who most likely wrote the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, understood this. He looked at the world “under the sun” and saw how much of it is repetitive. The sun rises and sets. The wind blows around and around. Streams run into the sea, yet the sea is never full. Generations come and go. Work is done and then must be done again. The book of Ecclesiastes does not pretend that our activities are always exciting. It tells the truth about the weariness of living in a world where so many things feel like they never really get finished.
But Ecclesiastes does not leave us in despair. Again and again, it calls us to receive the simple gifts God bestows on us in the middle of everyday life. Eating, drinking, working, resting, laughing, and enjoying the people God has placed near us. These gifts are not meaningless because they are received from His hand. They may seem small, but they are not empty. They are reminders that even in a fallen world, God still provides gifts that are satisfying.
Dr. James Dobson made a similar point when he wrote about marriage and daily routines. He said, “But don’t forget to savor the everyday moments that make up the rest of our days.” He mentioned simple joys such as waking beside your mate whom you love, sharing coffee, exchanging a knowing glance, or holding hands in church. His point was not that every moment is wonderful. It was that much of life is made up of routine events, and if we value only the big experiences, we will miss most of the every day gifts God gives.
That is not always easy to recognize when the ordinary feels unbearable. Repetition can wear us down. It can make us feel trapped. We may look at our lives and think, “Surely it could be better than this.” Sometimes that is true, and the book of Ecclesiastes does not ask us to call misery beautiful or to pretend that hard things are easy.
However, for most of us, life could be much worse. The job that feels boring is also provision. The noisy children who exhaust us are blessings to cherish and nurture. The dirty dishes in the sink mean food was available to eat. The pile of laundry reveals that clothing was provided to wear. The bills tell us there are needs that have to be managed, but also blessings to steward. The daily commute may be tiring, but it also suggests there is somewhere significant to go that will result in a paycheck to help pay those bills. Perspective does not remove the burden, but it can help us carry it with more gratitude.
Pastor Chen found God in a situation that people would naturally want to escape. That does not mean we should romanticize suffering, but it does mean we should pay attention. If Pastor Chen could meet God in a prison cesspool, perhaps we can join Him at the kitchen sink, in the vehicle traffic line, beside a hospital bed, at the office desk, or in the middle of another long day that looks too much like the one before.
We shouldn’t only ask, “How can I get out of this?” That could be the right question, but it may not be the only one. We should also ask, “Lord, how can I meet You here?” We can turn repetition into prayer. For instance, while folding laundry, thank God for the people who wear those clothes. When washing dishes, remember that daily bread is the Lord’s mercy. As we drive to work, pray for the people we see around us, and for those whom we love. While sitting with a child, a spouse, a parent, or a friend, choose to see those moments as precious and part of our calling, not an interruption.
This is where the book of Ecclesiastes helps us. It strips away the illusion that life will become meaningful only when it becomes exciting. It teaches us that joy is often found not by escaping everyday tasks, but by fearing God and receiving simple blessings from His hand with gratitude. The same routines that feel like vanity can become places of worship when we offer them back to the Lord.
The majority of life is not made of mountaintop experiences. It has mornings and evenings, meals and errands, work and rest, conversations and chores. If we despise the routine of all of that, we will resent much of what God has given us. But if we learn to look for Him in the mundane, then the ordinary can become holy.
So when repeated tasks seem unbearable, remember that God is not absent from repetition. He reigns over the grand events and the common tasks. He is present in worship services and in workdays, in answered prayers and in unfinished chores, in celebrations and in difficulties. The everyday routine may not be what you envisioned, and it may not be easy, but it can still be where you experience His grace.
Ask God to open your eyes to the wealth of each day. Pray that He will help you receive small blessings without demanding larger ones. Seek to meet Him in the work that has to be done again and again. The repetition may not disappear, but your heart can change in the midst of it. And sometimes, by God’s mercy, the very moment that feels unbearable can become the place where you discover He was closer than you realized.
