Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
And isn’t that the truth my Friends! Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes recommends the wise approach to life, and Chap.7 deals with Wisdom and Goodness upheld. So although Bruh Paul strongly advises us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say rejoice.’ (Phil.4:4) and it’s certainly worthwhile advice, but it’s not always humanly possible when the slings and arrows of this world come against us with mighty force, as they’re wont to do every so often. The Preacher though reminds us, that both prosperity and adversity are tools of God. ‘In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other..’ Yes Friends, He has surely appointed the one as well as the other. Moses warned the Israelites about the blessings of obedience and the curse of disobedience. ‘Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.’ (Deut.28:47) Oh people, it’s absolute folly not to be joyful in times of prosperity, and give thanks to our heavenly Father for His goodness and mercy, cause it’s only through His loving-kindness that we are able to be prosperous. But on the other hand, when times get rough, when we don’t understand why unfortunate things are happening to us, when there’s no logical explanation and we ask why, but don’t get an answer, then we need to remember that both good and bad days are all part of God’s work, part of His sovereign plan. Those misfortunes might forever remain mysteries to us because He uses them apart from our ability to understand. Our understanding then is not important. Remember His ways and comprehension are much higher than ours. Sometimes He uses adversity on purpose to test our mettle; to test our faithfulness, to see if we can really walk our talk, and, if in spite of the difficulties, we’d keep keeping on, keep on being positive, keep on believing, continue trusting in Him and His Son Jesus. Oh Friends, whatever happens to us is all a part of God’s overall plan to shape us, mould us, into the likeness of Christ, whom we consider our Saviour and our Leader. And if we’re to be like Him, then we cannot forget the trials and tribulations He faced here on earth, though He was sinless. Obviously we’ve got to go through some adversity too. And note how the Lord engineered the most precious things in our world: Dough can only become bread if it’s baked, if it passes through the fire. Diamonds are formed in the earth because of heat and intense pressure over long periods of time. Pearls also go through time and pressure sensitive treatment. The iron and gold we so value must be extracted from their ore also by extreme heat. All the things we admire and cherish don’t occur naturally, they must undergo some sort of intense treatment before we find them useful and beautiful. Friends, it’s the same with us; we can never reach our God-given potential, achieve the dreams and desires He’s put in our hearts without going through the tempering fire of adversity. And we’ve got to do that without too much complaining, because that’s just the way God planned it; ‘to the end that man should find nothing after him.’ So that nothing will happen after him. We won’t discover anything after us, so we might as well grin and bear it now. It’s all for our improvement; to be more like the Master. Much LOVE!…whatever the Lord allows…though it seems unfair…it’s always for our benefit … P.S. The message is short today, to make up for the lengthy one yesterday. (smile)
And isn’t that the truth my Friends! Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes recommends the wise approach to life, and Chap.7 deals with Wisdom and Goodness upheld. So although Bruh Paul strongly advises us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say rejoice.’ (Phil.4:4) and it’s certainly worthwhile advice, but it’s not always humanly possible when the slings and arrows of this world come against us with mighty force, as they’re wont to do every so often. The Preacher though reminds us, that both prosperity and adversity are tools of God. ‘In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other..’ Yes Friends, He has surely appointed the one as well as the other. Moses warned the Israelites about the blessings of obedience and the curse of disobedience. ‘Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.’ (Deut.28:47) Oh people, it’s absolute folly not to be joyful in times of prosperity, and give thanks to our heavenly Father for His goodness and mercy, cause it’s only through His loving-kindness that we are able to be prosperous. But on the other hand, when times get rough, when we don’t understand why unfortunate things are happening to us, when there’s no logical explanation and we ask why, but don’t get an answer, then we need to remember that both good and bad days are all part of God’s work, part of His sovereign plan. Those misfortunes might forever remain mysteries to us because He uses them apart from our ability to understand. Our understanding then is not important. Remember His ways and comprehension are much higher than ours. Sometimes He uses adversity on purpose to test our mettle; to test our faithfulness, to see if we can really walk our talk, and, if in spite of the difficulties, we’d keep keeping on, keep on being positive, keep on believing, continue trusting in Him and His Son Jesus. Oh Friends, whatever happens to us is all a part of God’s overall plan to shape us, mould us, into the likeness of Christ, whom we consider our Saviour and our Leader. And if we’re to be like Him, then we cannot forget the trials and tribulations He faced here on earth, though He was sinless. Obviously we’ve got to go through some adversity too. And note how the Lord engineered the most precious things in our world: Dough can only become bread if it’s baked, if it passes through the fire. Diamonds are formed in the earth because of heat and intense pressure over long periods of time. Pearls also go through time and pressure sensitive treatment. The iron and gold we so value must be extracted from their ore also by extreme heat. All the things we admire and cherish don’t occur naturally, they must undergo some sort of intense treatment before we find them useful and beautiful. Friends, it’s the same with us; we can never reach our God-given potential, achieve the dreams and desires He’s put in our hearts without going through the tempering fire of adversity. And we’ve got to do that without too much complaining, because that’s just the way God planned it; ‘to the end that man should find nothing after him.’ So that nothing will happen after him. We won’t discover anything after us, so we might as well grin and bear it now. It’s all for our improvement; to be more like the Master. Much LOVE!…whatever the Lord allows…though it seems unfair…it’s always for our benefit … P.S. The message is short today, to make up for the lengthy one yesterday. (smile)
SCRIP-BITS 