We Are Wise To Trust In God 

Today I read Ecclesiastes 8. At work, school and everyday life, we have to obey laws, rules and respect authority. We will always find a time to do what is right. We don’t know what will happen in the future, so we cannot avoid situations that we don’t know will happen. 

People have the power to hurt one another. Life isn’t always fair. Cruel people can be honored, while good people suffer. When bad people aren’t punished quickly, others may follow their lead and think they are safe making bad choices, because they won’t face consequences. If wicked people don’t fear God, they will not prosper. God sees our hearts. God knows every injustice we do and every injustice done to us. 

We have to respect authority, work hard and know that life can be unfair. Knowing this, enjoy life. Eat, drink and be merry! Laugh and have fun. Embrace happiness in each day. 

Life on earth is full of constant activity during the day and night. We will never see it all or know it all. God can see it all. God knows our hearts and our actions. God is doing things we cannot see. 

We are wise to trust in God through it all.

How wonderful to be wise,
to analyze and interpret things.

Wisdom lights up a person’s face,
softening its harshness.

Obedience to the King

Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would. Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants. His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it. Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right, for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.

Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

The Wicked and the Righteous

I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other. I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praised in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless. When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off. The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.

And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless!

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

—Ecclesiastes 8 (NLT)

Sing Your Praises