Ecclesiastes

The beginning of book of Ecclesiastes really bothers me sometimes.  Solomon is just such a downer in this book. He goes on and on about how everything means nothing and it's all pointless.  So hard to read when you are trying to find purpose in what you do on a day to day basis.  And yet after his griping and moaning, there is this verse that just jumps out and speaks, well at least to me it did this week when I was reading it again.

"To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God." Ecclesiastes 2:26

Pleasing God really comes down to obedience motivated by our love for him. So if we love him and desire to please him we will do what he asks us, no matter how difficult it may seem to us. So when we do that, God promises wisdom and knowledge and happiness. 

And those who choose not to please God, but choose their own way are busy storing up wealth that God says is ours (if we please God) and will be handed over to us. There is something about God taking what the wicked have worked for and stored up and rewarding his own with it that just gets me excited. Because God is God and even what the wicked think is theirs, God has control over and he sees to it that his own reap the benefits of belonging to him. Love it!!

On a side note, I had a really good week last week. After I wrote this post about anger and forgiveness, I knew that I would be tested in that area, and I was. And, thanks be to God, I was able to continue to work towards total forgiveness and healing. God required me to step out of my comfort zone and offer a friendly gesture toward them and I did it before I was talked out of action by my own thoughts. I tend to over think things and blow them out of proportion to the point I am frozen in fear and unable to take the steps God is asking of me. But not this time. This time I was victorious and the devil didn't win. I say all of that, not so that you'll pat me on the back, but so that God gets the glory for the victory he is providing in me. And to reiterate that victory is possible as we learn to trust in and rely on God, one step at a time.