Why do I sometimes engage in activities into which I don’t pour my energy? It’s a waste of my time. In fact, it’s a waste of God’s time.
Have you ever thought about the manner in which God accomplishes things? Whenever He does something, He does it to the best of His perfect ability. However, He’s not constrained by time, so time is a non-factor.
A reminder and exhortation to the righteous are both found in this passage. First of all, one is useful on this earth only when he is alive. Secondly, God approves of righteous living, so keep on living in such a manner.
Let’s start with the common sense, “A living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing.” A running Model T is better than a junked Lamborghini; a functional typewriter is better than a smashed iPad; a living peasant is better than a dead president.
“Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil…” Truly! Oh, how the truth hurts, eh? “…And after that they go to the dead.”
I am reminded of Romans 7, that well-known chapter in which Paul describes the struggle between his flesh and his new nature. Saved but still sinners are we! Declared righteous but still living unrighteously. Paul finally concedes in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Without the explanation offered in the first verse of Ecclesiastes 9, the following verses would have an entirely different, hopeless meaning from what they actually do.
Ecclesiastes 9:1 ends by saying, “People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.”
Verse 2 says, “All things come alike to all: one event happens to the righteous and the wicked…As is the good, so is the sinner.”
Hmmm…hard to find much encouragement for life in this passage: “There is a vanity which occurs on earth…I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry…a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun…though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.”
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
