Wednesday 15 Oct 2014

October 15: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 1:7
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

Devotion:
Solomon may have been incredibly wise with all that wisdom God gave him, but sometimes you may think about the way he used the wisdom. We may think of some of the things he got up to as not very wise at all; but then we don’t have the insight into life and everything that God gave him. Would I want to be as wise as Solomon or would I want to carry on in my own silly ways? A hard question to answer truthfully without being drawn into a long theological discussion!

I am very happy with all that God has given me and I am very happy with all that he allows me to do, especially the parts where I get to share the gospel with others and encourage people to get to know Christ a bit more each day! I am very happy with all that God has given me in life because I have been able to have my fair share of a variety of things and ways and levels of life (if you can call it that).

If I were wiser then I would have difficulty in accepting many things in life because I would be able to see through so many of the actions other people do. I don’t like living in ignorance and will always try to think things through as well as asking God for guidance… but to be able to see where people were headed all the time may well be a bit too depressing for me. I love to smile and love to love people, but seeing how some people sink so quickly into despair when something slight does not match up with their expectations is hard to accept for me. I always try to find the positive side of everything – I emphasise the trying part!

Maybe that was why I have always found the book of Ecclesiastes hard to read when others thought it easy; that was until I looked at it in a different light. If you look at it as the author being depressed then it is going to be a depressing read. But what if you look at it as a book showing how far short of God’s will for our lives we fall… well that may be depressing too… So look at it as how much God has created for us and how we always look for the failing instead. Turn your view of life round by looking for the positive in Christ’s creation and salvation!

Points to Ponder:
Are you happy with your life?

Are you happy with Christ’s gift to you?