Ecclesiastes - Various
My Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has done so much for me - You have blessed me through good times and bad times - You have never left me. Thank You Jesus! I am not deserving of Your love. I worry and I have other sins. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Ecclesiastes 7:14
Day 148 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith)
continues with a study of Ecclesiastes; much like my study of the
Psalms and Proverbs, my commentary presents the chapters of Ecclesiastes
according to topic areas and this morning my focus is Solomon's writings on the emptiness of human wisdom, pleasure, achievement, labor, accumulation, unshared lives, politics, false worship, wealth, materialism, prosperity, defiance, wickedness, injustice, and strength - all are meaningless pursuits outside of God.
A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor[.]...Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9,12
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Ecclesiastes 7:14
Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. Ecclesiastes 8:12-13
My Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has done so much for me - You have blessed me through good times and bad times - You have never left me. Thank You Jesus! I am not deserving of Your love. I worry and I have other sins. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.
