9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good man,
so with the sinner;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.
so with the sinner;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.
3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
5 For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white,and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
In this passage Solomon once again warns us to live our life while we still can. Because none of us knows the day of our death, we tend to live our days thinking they are infinite - and we become careless about everything, and we end up wasting time when all that time we should've been redeeming it instead.
Mark Driscoll says....
As things come to you in life, relationships, opportunities, friends, jobs, health, sickness, wealth, poverty, you received that from God saying, “Well, God must desire for me to have this. Therefore, I will embrace it.” And this is important because much of the time, we try to live a life different than what we have. And what Solomon is saying is this. That if God gives you circumstances in life, you embrace them and you walk through them trusting that God is good and that there will be a way through those circumstances and that you’ll draw closer to him as a result of it; as opposed to spending all of our energies, living a life that God didn’t get us. Living in ways that God didn’t call us and trying to take matters, literally, into our own hands. Life comes. You accept and walk with God through it or you fight it and try and be your own God and get a different life altogether....
Living a full life with Jesus. That’s what a Christian life is. A full life. Food. Drink. Work. Friends. Joy. Sorrow. Life. Death. With Jesus.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Proverbs 27-29
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
1 comment:
Love this post! Verses 7-10 are great verses, I think. How we live now is important. Whatever you have to do, do it with all your might. You won't get another chance. Enjoy what you have. After you die, it will all be gone, so enjoy it now. I like how it talks both about working hard and doing your best and living in the here and now and not doing nothing BUT work. You have to have both. Balance.
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