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Enjoy the Day

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Living with the Mystery Ecclesiastes 9 “For I have taken all this to my heart and explained it that the righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. God does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.”                   Can we know God and all of His plans entirely? This is the question we often wrestle with. When we gaze into the face of God as He has revealed Himself in His word and in creation, there is a mystery that defines our ability to understand. Furthermore, the quest to know God goes beyond our capacity. While we can learn some things about God, in the end, we must always humbly bow in His presence and, like Job, acknowledge that we do not fully understand and it is beyond our ability to understand that we are finite, but He is infinite, and therefore we can only speak about God, but we can never speak for God. While we can know some things about...
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Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

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Don’t judge a book by its cover or praise a man by the results of his actions. Ecclesiastes 8 “Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.  But it will not be well for the evil man, and he will not lengthen His days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.”                   In our world today, we determine morality by its effect on the present and whether it makes us happy now.  If an action makes us happier in the present and seems to have no negative consequences, we conclude it must be good, for happiness is our highest value.                   As Solomon reflects on life, he comes to the conclusion that there is a paradox that challenges us in a fallen world.  The par...
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Finding Balance in Life

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Finding Balance in Life Ecclesiastes 7 “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living take it to heart.”                   Is Solomon the ultimate Eeyore who brings a cloud to the party? Reading through Ecclesiastes, one might conclude that Solomon was like Eeyore in the storybooks of Winnie the Pooh. He was characterized as pessimistic, depressed, and melancholic. Eeyore was the foil to Pollyanna. In Elanor Porter’s children’s novels, Pollyanna represented a person with excessive optimism and naivety. Eeyore was the exact opposite. In the book of Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon seems to identify with Eeyore, writing that the day of one's death is better. In verses 1-14, he writes a series of proverbs that seem to paint a picture of life as one chided and bitter.          ...
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The Futility of Success

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The Futility of Success Ecclesiastes 6 “ A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction.”                   Solomon knew the abundance of wealth. In 1 Kings 10:14-28, we read that the gold Solomon received in one year was approximately 25 tons. In today’s prices, it would be equivalent to around 5 billion dollars. There was nothing that he desired that he could not have. In this chapter, he is not bemoaning the futility of wealth, not as an outsider, but as one who had obtained it. He had achieved all the wealth that one could imagine, and it led him to one conclusion: that the pursuit of wealth did not bring happiness; rather, it was a pursuit of what was meaningless and a severe affliction.     ...
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Living a Life of Balance

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Living a life of Balance Ecclesiastes 5 “For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.”                   It is easy to become unbalanced in life. There are always tasks that demand our attention and priorities that demand our time and energy. The Book of Ecclesiastes is not a book of unbridled pessimism. Instead, it is a book of Balance. It examines life in a fallen world and challenges us to maintain a proper perspective and avoid extremes that distort our priorities and rob us of our joy.                     Finding Balance begins with our relationship with God. We can become unbalanced even in our relationship with God and in our religious activities. What Ecclesiastes confronts is not someone passionate about faith and obedience to God’s word, but the one who becomes...
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Finding Satisfaction in a Broken World

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Finding Support in a Broken World” Ecclesiastes 4 “Two are Better than one because they have a good return for their labor.”                   A popular preacher today has written a book, “Your Best Life Now.” In the book, he sets forth his principles for living a life of fulfillment, joy, and victory. The only thing holding you back is your attitude. All you have to do to find the best life is just believe it is possible and then embrace it. However, Solomon confronts us with a different reality. Because we live in a broken world, life does not consistently deliver what we desire. Instead of finding our “best life,” we find a life filled with troubles and challenges that are overwhelming. In a fallen world, we face the reality of oppression. There are individuals who gain power and use that power to oppress God’s people. Tragically, no one comes to their aid. Therefore, we come to the same conclus...
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The Timing of Life

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The One Who Controls the Timing of Life Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 Verse 11 “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”                   For those growing up in the 70s, the first eight verses are familiar as they became the words of a popular song by “the Byrds” (yes, that's their name and spelling) entitled “Turn, Turn, Turn.”  The words describe the continual movement of polar-opposite events that characterize life and encompass the totality of the experience. Life is a constant movement from one extreme to another. The day someone is born, other people die. We go through different seasons of life that mirror the seasons of nature. Even relationships come and go. New friends enter our lives while old friends drift away (vs 5). We buy new furniture f...
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