{"id":28316,"date":"2023-10-17T22:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-8_11-17-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-19T14:26:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T21:26:06","slug":"ecclesiastes-9_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-9_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"You Don\u2019t Need To Be Hopeless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 \u00a0\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 9:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 9:1-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All share a common destiny–the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Anyone who is among the living has hope–even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-7:\u00a0 While Qohelet believes that the righteous, the wise and what they do are in God\u2019s hands (v1), Qohelet also has no idea what awaits him or anyone else after they die (v1).\u00a0 For Qohelet, death is the great equalizer and eliminates every person without discrimination, regardless of how nobly or wickedly they lived (v2).\u00a0 For Qohelet, the great evil in this world is that everyone dies (v3a), and since Qohelet has no idea what awaits him or anyone else after they die (v1), it sounds like all of Qohelet\u2019s hope is in this life.\u00a0 That is why Qohelet says it is better to be alive and kicking than dead and gone (v4-6).\u00a0 And that is also why Qohelet recommends that people make the most of the life they have now \u2013 \u201cGo, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.\u201d (v7)<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 When we, like Qohelet, have no hope of eternal life, it is easy to default to Qohelet\u2019s approach to life: since we don\u2019t know what happens after we die, we might as well just eat, drink and enjoy our lives now, because what else is there to look forward to.\u00a0 While Qohelet is right that life is short and that we should try to enjoy our lives on earth, we don\u2019t need to share Qohelet\u2019s hopelessness about death.\u00a0 For in Jesus Christ we have a hope that is stronger than death, the hope of eternal life and the assurance that life in heaven will be far better than life as we experienced it on earth.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 9:8-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun– all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-10:\u00a0 Qohelet commends that people enjoy food and drink (v7), wear their best clothes (v8 \u2013 \u201cAlways be clothed in white\u201d, white sometimes being a symbol for joy and celebration), treat their hair well (v8b), enjoy marital relations (v9) and be fully engaged in their work (v10).\u00a0 Qohelet recommends this because he does not see any hope after death (v10).\u00a0 Interestingly, Jesus came to show us that we can enjoy life before death as God enables\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0that we can have great hope after death.\u00a0 We can do many of the same things that Qohelet recommends in verses 7-10\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>have hope for eternity as well.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-12:\u00a0 Qohelet also observes how it is not necessarily the most talented and hard working that succeed in the end, but rather \u201ctime and chance\u201d play a role in determining who wins and succeeds (v11).\u00a0 Qohelet also observes that (other than those who choose to take their own lives) no one can predict their time of death.\u00a0 Like fish caught in a net or birds in a snare, people can fall prey to unexpected tragedies (v12).<\/p>\n

Whereas Qohelet refers to \u201ctime and chance\u201d and seemingly senseless tragedies, as followers of Jesus we believe that everything happens for a reason, that God is sovereign and that even in seemingly the most senseless of tragedies, God is writing a greater story through it all.\u00a0 We might not perceive how His plan works on this side of heaven, but He will work it out for good.<\/p>\n

Thank You Jesus that I don\u2019t need to be hopeless but that I can have peace and joy in this lifetime together with hope for eternity, all because of You.\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 9:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 9:1-7 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0All share a common destiny–the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-7:\u00a0 While Qohelet believes that the righteous, the wise and what they do are in God\u2019s hands (v1), Qohelet also has no idea what awaits him or anyone else after they die (v1).\u00a0 For Qohelet, death is the great equalizer and eliminates every person without discrimination, regardless of how nobly or wickedly they lived (v2).\u00a0 For Qohelet, the great evil in this world is that everyone dies (v3a), and since Qohelet has no idea what awaits him or anyone else after they die (v1), it sounds like all of Qohelet\u2019s hope is in this life.\u00a0 That is why Qohelet says it is better to be alive and kicking than dead and gone (v4-6).\u00a0 And that is also why Qohelet recommends that people make the most of the life they have now \u2013 \u201cGo, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.\u201d (v7)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28316","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\/28316","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=28316"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28319,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316\/revisions\/28319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}