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Ecclesiastes 9 (ESV)

⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

⁸ Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

REFLECTION:

Is Solomon in these verses encouraging carpe diem? No, Solomon realized that everyone would die, and that everything in the future would be in the hands of God, so he advised us not to worry about tomorrow, and to enjoy the life and rich provision of God. He may be criticizing those who are deliberately accumulating money and are not willing to enjoy the joy of life. Just like people nowadays who are caught in fierce competition, and live in anxiety and worries. Solomon told us that God created us to experience the joy of life in God’s presence. Because our future is completely in God’s hands, we should enjoy all the gifts given by God and seek the God of giving. When Solomon said that there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (v.10), he is not preaching a kind of atheism in which people die the way a lamp goes out. He is comparing the situation in this life and the situation after death but before resurrection. He advises us to take a good grasp of this life and experience the joy of being with God through hard work. When we pass away, we will not have the opportunity to change anything we did when we were alive. Old Testament believers had a very vague concept about resurrection. This concept was fully revealed only after Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

PRAYER:

Pray for God to remove your worries about tomorrow so that you can enjoy all the abundance that God has given today, including material and spiritual abundance. Pray for God to strengthen your faith and make you understand that your future is under His protection. God has even counted your hair, and not one hair will fall to the ground without His permission.

HYMN:

Because He Lives (Amen) – youtu.be/PBvU7arNhQs