Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

It is a good thing to enjoy the gifts of God that I have been given I am on this earth. My hands, the work of them, are given to me by the Lord. The power that I have to get wealth has been given to me by the Lord. God truly is the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow of change or variableness. Every gift, every good gift comes from Him, the Father of lights.

For not even my next breath can be done in my own power. The intricate workings of my body cannot be sustained by me, nor the wisest of all physicians. My very essence, the core of my being, the core of all beings, particles, atoms, whatever we call them cannot be understood, searched out or found out. Thus, my very life is held together by God. My life and all my animation is a gift from God.

Thus, in order for me to even toil, I have to receive the gift of labor from God. The goods that are produces or bought because of this toil are also gifts, emanating from my Divine Father. So when God tells me that I should eat and drink and find enjoyment in my toil, essentially, I am to find enjoyment in God, for the ability and grace to toil has come from Him. So then, all things that I do should be done in thanksgiving and praise of my great and wonderful God.

So then, I have answered why and explained why it says, “who can eat or who can have enjoyment” apart from God. All things then are truly given from the hand of God.

Next, the wise man says, God gives wisdom, knowledge and joy to the one who pleases Him. On the other hand, he gives to the sinner, busyness, striving and gathering to give it to the one who pleases God.

This phrase here looks like a parallelism. We see two men, one a God-pleaser, and the other a self-pleaser. One a righteous man, and the other a sinner. What is a righteous man, but one who seeks with all his being to please God, and what is a sinner, but one who seeks to please himself above all.

Yes, yes, I know that it is only God who changes my heart and elects or chooses me, but here I think that a choice is set before me. I can be a God-pleaser or a man-pleaser. I can spend My time living to please God, using the wisdom, knowledge and joy to honor and serve God or I can spend my time collecting, gathering and toiling for my own profit.

I can spend my time living and striving after vanity and the wind, or I can spend my time living and toiling and enjoying in God.

The choice is set before me today, I can be a God-pleaser or a man pleaser. I can spend my day today toiling for nothing, or I can recognize God and all that he has done for me and delight and enjoy him and it.

Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.[1]

The stories of Jesus—His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His promised return to take us to heaven—for the child of God of any age are always fresh, exciting, and spiritually refreshing. They never grow old.[2]

[1]Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. March 31
[2]Osbeck, Kenneth W.: Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Kregel Publications, 1990, S. 102