5 Days in Ecclesiastes

When was the last time that you picked up your Bible and turned to the book of Ecclesiastes?  I assume that it has been a while. Ecclesiastes isn’t exactly one of those books that we go to looking for answers. Not because there are no answers there, but rather, because we will find the answers that we don’t want to hear. After all, who wants to hear that “life is meaningless” or to be told that funerals are better than parties? Yet, God in His infinite wisdom gives us this wonderful book. Why? Apparently the book of Ecclesiastes was given to us in order to teach us something. As a matter of fact, we are told that it was written by ‘The Teacher’ (1:1). One can only assume that ‘The Teacher’ intended for us to learn something.

For the past week I have been going through the first ten chapters of this marvelous book. This is what I have learned so far.

1. Life is filled with seasons. The seasons come and go whether we want them to or not. If you are enjoying a good one then enjoy it while you can. Good times should be considered a gift from God to prepare us from being overwhelmed when the inevitable trials come.

2. Life isn’t fair. The righteous are often treated like the wicked and the wicked often receive the blessings that should go to the righteous. Bummer!

3. Luck actually does have a lot to do with it! Be thankful for your God-given gifts and do the very best you can with them, but there is no guarantee that your strength or your wisdom will get you to where you want to go. Sometimes it is who you know, where you were born, or the luck of the draw. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.

4. Take a deep breath and count to 10! Knee jerk reactions are usually really bad! Venting on facebook is never a good idea! See Ecclesiasted 10:4!

5. Life is bad enough -- get some friends to help you through it! If you don’t have one get one! If you can get more than one that’s even better.

6. There is a time for everything. Live in the season that you are in! Play basketball while you still can there will be horseshoe tournaments in your future followed by ‘who can stay awake the longest’ contests in your latter years.

7. What do you want to be remembered for at your funeral? Start doing it today!

8. We don’t take Church seriously enough! We need to spend less time telling God what to do and more time listening to what He wants us to do. Don’t make Him promises that you have no intention of keeping.

9. Money isn’t everything.

10. Your degree isn’t worth the paper that it is printed on little alone the mountain of debt that you incurred in order to achieve it. You’re broke! SallieMae is rich! Life stinks! Death is where the payoff comes. SallieMae get it in the end! YES!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past five days in Ecclesiastes and am looking forward to the rest of the book. Why not pick it up today and see what the Lord wants to teach you.