Prosperity or Adversity

14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. 15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. Ecclesiastes 7:14-15

Have you ever wondered why we have ‘days of prosperity” and “days of adversity”? The Bible says, “it rains on the just and the unjust.”Matthew 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. It is the way of life. Unfortunately the evil and bad are because of the sin of man. In the beginning when the first sin was committed God told us the condition of man. Genesis 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The way we act when we are going through trials or prosperity does matter. Each and every day we have people who are watching our “Christianity”. Most people are “fed up” with words but want to see “actions”. People want to “see” if we really mean what we say. The way we handle different situations in our life may be a way to lead others to the Savior.

I know I have failed many a test, but I have passed many tests by God’s grace. How are you doing?  Are you in the days of “prosperity” or “adversity”? Ecclesiastes 7:14 says to “consider”, consider and think upon the situation but in all situations know that God is Sovereign. He is in control.

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Oppressions

1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. 2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. 3 Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Solomon is again thinking of all the oppressions around him.  Evil triumphed even in Solomon’s time (Ecclesiastes 3:16). He says many times throughout this book everything that happens is “under the sun”. It is the way of the world, the day to day happenings.

He saw all this occurring in the judicial system. The exploited are oppressed more and more while the oppressors have all the power. There was no one who could deliver them. This was a sad state of affairs. Solomon was so saddened by this that he said it was better to die then live with the oppression.

Many years before Solomon arrived at this conclusion, way back in the book of Genesis we are told “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  (Genesis 6:5)

Times have not changed. Man’s heart is still evil but praise God He has sent a solution in the life of His Son.

Have a blessed day,
Donna