Life and Death

Ecclesiastes 9 - Solomon makes two major points about life and death in this chapter.

              (1) Death is unavoidable (vs. 1-10) He points out three different responses that people may make to the fear of death.  People may try to escape death (vs. 3).  People will do almost anything but repent in order to escape the reality of death.  The problem is that you don't get confidence by trying to run away from the reality of death - you get it by facing "the last enemy" honestly, turning from sing and trusting Jesus to save you.  Death is not scary when you know where you are going when you die and are secure in your destination.  People may also try to endure death (vs. 4-6).  People hope for the best, and just go along with it, without any real hope or belief.  All Solomon is asking here is that we have some common sense along with our hope that things will be okay, otherwise we could be grasping a false hope.  The only true hope is in Jesus and when we put our hope in anything else, we will be putting our life in a false realization.  The last option Solomon posits regarding death is that people can face it with enjoyment (vs. 7-10).  Yes, death is coming - for everyone - but God gives us good gifts to enjoy while we are here are earth and we should enjoy them.  God does not want us to just sit on earth waiting for death to happen - He gives us life experiences to enjoy and to take pleasure in while we are here.
                    (2) Life is unpredictable (vs. 11-18) - Our abilities are no guarantee of success (vs. 11-12).  Even some of the most gifted people can fail because of factors out of control.  Just think of Pia getting eliminated from American Idol this week.  Many people thought she could win the whole competition, but because of factors out of her control (the public voting), she is not going to have the success of winning the competition no matter how talented she might have been.  Also, our opportunities are no guarantee of success (vs. 13-18).  Just because many more people have the opportunity to go to college or grad school now does not guarantee them a good job when they graduate because of our present economy.  The economy is a factor out of our control - we can't do anything about it.  It is unpredictable at times and those of use who have studied in school for years have no guarantee of a job even though we have been given these great opportunities of schooling.
                   Solomon is trying to point out that both life and death are out of our control.  Death comes when it comes and life is completely unpredictable most of the time.  We have no control.  All we can control is how we react to sitauttions and if we are ready to face death when it comes.

Ecclesiastes 9 (ESV) - 1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. 13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.