{"id":28312,"date":"2023-10-16T22:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-8_1-10-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-19T13:52:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T20:52:44","slug":"ecclesiastes-8_11-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-8_11-17\/","title":{"rendered":"God Will Avenge and Reveal In His Own Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecclesiastes 8:11-17\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 8:11-17.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 8:11-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-14:\u00a0 Here we see a bit of Qohelet\u2019s struggle.\u00a0 On one hand, as king of Israel, Qohelet believed that it was important to carry out sentences for crimes quickly; otherwise people will be emboldened to do wrong, thinking, \u201cnothing\u2019s going to happen to me anyway\u201d (v11).\u00a0 On the other hand, Qohelet noticed that wicked men sometimes live a long time (v12) and life goes well with them (v14) while other more righteous people seem to get what the wicked deserve (v14).\u00a0 To Qohelet, this is absurd, \u201cmeaningless\u201d (v14).\u00a0 Still, Qohelet hangs onto the belief that it is better to fear God than to be wicked (v12) and that ultimately it will not go well with the wicked, though Qohelet does not clearly describe how or why he believes that.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Do not be dismayed when you see wicked people living a long and seemingly blessed life, while righteous people are cut down seemingly before their time or live more difficult lives on earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s because what you see on this earth is only one small part of the story.\u00a0 In eternity, the tide will turn, such that those who are wicked will be cut off while those who are righteous will have eternal, abundant life.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 8:15-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth–his eyes not seeing sleep day or night–
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-17:\u00a0 For Qohelet there are certain things in this life which are beyond our understanding (v17).\u00a0 So Qohelet commends that people enjoy their lives and invest in their happiness by eating, drinking and being glad (v15).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Relying on our own powers of observation and logic, we\u2019re not able to figure out what this life is all about.\u00a0 We need God to reveal to us what this life is about.\u00a0 That is why Jesus is so crucial, for Jesus came to reveal what God is like and what life is all about.\u00a0 Qohelet says that he \u201csaw all that God has done\u201d (v17), but he may be speaking prematurely.\u00a0 For centuries later, God would reveal Himself through Jesus Christ and show us what life really is all about.<\/p>\n

Father, on my own strength, logic and understanding, I have no way of figuring out what this life is all about.\u00a0 But Your revelation \u2013 You revealing Yourself through Your Son Jesus \u2013 allows us to see what life is about.\u00a0 May we cherish each day we have and be glad in it.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 8:11-17.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 8:11-14 (NIV)
\n11\u00a0\u00a0When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.
\n12\u00a0\u00a0Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 11-14:\u00a0 Here we see a bit of Qohelet\u2019s struggle.\u00a0 On one hand, as king of Israel, Qohelet believed that it was important to carry out sentences for crimes quickly; otherwise people will be emboldened to do wrong, thinking, \u201cnothing\u2019s going to happen to me anyway\u201d (v11).\u00a0 On the other hand, Qohelet noticed that wicked men sometimes live a long time (v12) and life goes well with them (v14) while other more righteous people seem to get what the wicked deserve (v14).\u00a0 To Qohelet, this is absurd, \u201cmeaningless\u201d (v14).\u00a0 Still, Qohelet hangs onto the belief that it is better to fear God than to be wicked (v12) and that ultimately it will not go well with the wicked, though Qohelet does not clearly describe how or why he believes that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28315,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312\/revisions\/28315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}