It has been quite awhile since I have written a post on here. Part of the reason is just how busy I have been with school and work. Part of the reason is that I went through a couple weeks of constant headaches and I barely moved from the couch for about a week except to go to the doctor. But God taught me many things during that time regarding completely relying on Him and giving over all control to Him. During this time I finished my study of Ecclesiastes using the book Be Satisfied by Warren Wiersbe. I want to share some of the highlights from the remainder of the book - I am going to do a bunch of different blogs so that it is not one long one that is so overwhelming. I have learned a lot from this book, and I finished the last half of it since my last writing. So here we go. Last time I wrote on Chapter 5.
Ecclesiastes 6 -- "Perhaps the basic problem of life is that life confronts us with too many mysteries we can't fatham and too many puzzles we can't solve - for life to be truly satisfying it has to make sense." (Wiersbe). In this chapter, Solomon discussed three of life's mysteries:
(1) Riches without enjoyment - vs. 1-6 - No matter how much we possess, if we don't possess the power to enjoy it, we might just as well never have been born to have it.
(2) Labor without satisfaction - vs. 7-9 - If life only consists in working and eating, then we are being controlled by our appetites and that almost puts use on the same level as animals. As the image of God we must live for something higher.
(3) Questions without answers - vs. 10-12 - There are some questions about life that nobody can answer - but our ignorance must not be used as an excuse for skepticism or unbelief - instead it should encourage us to have faith in God. It is certainly true that God can accomplish His divine purposes with or without our cooperation, but He invites us to work with Him - which is amazing. What God wills for us is of course best for us because He created us and knows more about us than we ever will.
That chapter has a lot of important aspects that hit me. The part about labor without satisfaction - achieving a law degree, achieving greatness in work, feeling accomplished - all that really means nothing without God - without Him nothing matters because it will all fade away. And the part about questions without answers - I like to be in control and know exactly what is going on - but that can never happen 100% of the time. I definitely do not know everything and cannot control everything. When I had my headaches constantly I kept asking why is this happening to me - why is this happening now - I am nearing the end of the semester and I almost missed too many classes to even pass my classes for the semester - I missed a week of working a job that I had recently started and loved. I had to completely give myself over to God and trust that He had it all in control whether the headaches would continue or would stop. He has everything in control and we do not need to know everything.
Ecclesiastes 6 (ESV) 1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good--do not all go to the one place? 7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?
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