Knowing the future will not satisfy

10 That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. 11 Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? 12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Ecclesiastes 6:10-12

Let’s be concerned about now, the present. Don’t worry about the past, you cannot change it. Don’t worry about the future, you do not know what it will hold and worry will just make one anxious.

Knowing the future will not satisfy. As soon as the future was revealed, if it could be, we would want to know more and more. Solomon is again reiterating that satisfaction does not come by way of knowing the future.

There is an old Doris Day song, Que Sera Sera and the chorus says:

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Philippians 4:6-7  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“I am always content with what happens; for I know that what God chooses is better than what I choose.” ~ Epictetus (Roman philosopher)

Our goal each and every day should be: Lord, what would you have me to do. Pray today and ask the Lord to show you the right path to follow.

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Labor does not satisfy

7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. : 8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 6:7-9

Why do we work? We would all agree that one works to put food on the table and to supply the means to buy the things one needs.

Do you know people who work and work and work? I do, as a matter of fact a few names come quickly to my mind. I know people who work so much they have no time to spend with family. No time to relax and enjoy the things around them. No time to stop and smell the roses.

There is nothing wrong with working. As a matter of fact, it is good and right to work and provide for one’s family. The problem is not with the working but with letting the work consume every waking minute of the day. Life is too short to just work it away.

Take time today to put some of the work away, for a time, and enjoy the blessings the Lord has given you.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Psalm 103:2  

Have a blessed day,
Donna

No satisfaction in children

3 If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. 4 For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 5 Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other. 6 Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place? Ecclesiastes 6:3-6

Ecclesiastes chapter six is a hard chapter. I can hear you now, "all Ecclesiastes is hard to understand.” Well, I don’t know if it is all hard to understand, but I am certainly having a harder time with this chapter than the previous five.  Let’s look at it and see what we can gleam from this portion of scripture.

People look at different “things” and “possessions” to declare themselves “successful” or “satisfied”. This portion is speaking of someone who had a hundred children and lived many years. In all this “his soul was not filled with good”. In Hebrew, filled means satisfied.

Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Be Satisfied, says:

Verses 3-6 surely deal with a hypothetical case, because nobody lives for two thousand years, and no monogamous marriage is likely to produce a hundred children. … The Preacher was obviously exaggerating here in order to make his point: No matter how much you possess, if you don’t possess the power to enjoy it, you might just as well never have been born.”

This man had a hundred children, lived many years and he didn’t have a proper burial. No one cared because he wasted his life on things that were inconsequential.

All through these chapters the same reoccurring theme is mentioned, what is the use? What satisfies? What is our purpose?

Solomon wants us to realize that our end all in this life is what we do with God. We  can only satisfy the emptiness in our life by filling the emptiness with God. God is the only One who can completely satisfy our every longing.

Have a blessed day, 

Donna

Pitfall of Money

Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:
2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
 
Solomon,the richest man in the world during his time, would know about the pitfall of money. He knew money did not bring satisfaction. He repeats the same theme from Ecclesiastes 5:10-16.
"He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver;..."
Solomon tells us this is common among men, one receives riches, wealth and honor and he needs nothing or so he thinks. He obtains "everything" yet never gets to enjoy what he has. Solomon calls it an evil disease.

This week, after saving for this trip for many years, my husband and I are traveling. We are enjoying the beautiful sights of our country. During our travels we saw mansions of the very rich and shacks of the very poor. I do not know the hearts of either but I do know what Gods says, the more one has the more he wants. The more one has the more he needs to protect all he owns, it is a vicious circle.

When my son was young he had a paper route. His route was in a very affluent part of town, security gates and cameras surrounded the properties which bordered the ocean. One day as my son got into the car after delivering the paper to a wealthy family he said, "Mom, we are richer than the ___  because we have Jesus." Out of the mouth of babes (Matthew 21:16)

Are we concerned about our riches and station in this life? What would your attitude be if you lost everything? Do we realize that we are richer than the ____?

My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10). It is not about how much money we can accumulate but how much Jesus accumulates of us.

Have a blessed day,
Donna