Trivia:
Good Thursday morning, here is a little mind teaser for you to wake up with and consider. Yes, slurp down that first sip of coffee and think about this quiz. How many months have 31 days? Are there 8 or 6 or 7, or does it depend on the year? Make a guess and we'll touch base on that fact tomorrow.
Challenge:
Ecclesiastes 9:1 "For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them."
Let's begin by looking at that first phrase, "For I considered all this in my heart". What did he mean by "all of this"? Well this phrase takes us back to yesterdays thoughts. in Verse 17 "Then I saw all the work of God". In other words yesterdays conclusion was that we human beings cannot know all of the working parts of life. But He knows absolutely every part of life, what the godless people are attempting to do in their thinking, what His godly people are striving to accomplish, and what Satan's mission is accomplishing in the world that they are all in.
What was the writer purposing to accomplish as a result of all of his considerations? The next phrase clarifies his mission, "so that I could declare it all" In other words, he wants to bring to clarity all of these issues. What evil intent that Satan has, as a result, what those who are swayed by his evil intent are desirous of doing, and what godly people should seek to accomplish in order to bring praise to ours and his Savior.
The next phrase points us to what our motives should be directed towards, "that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God." Or, so that good godly people will be accomplishing the purposes of God through their daily efforts. Have you ever been working hard to accomplish something and before you were able to finish that work, it fell apart in your very presence?
Now lets go back and confirm what we know for sure that we should be recognizing & proclaiming:
Deut. 33:3 assures us of this, "Indeed, He loves His people; all his His holy ones are in His hands."
God loves us, because we have decided to become His children, and then He has cleansed our life and given us this desire that we have as our intention to be held (guided, cared for, protected) in His hands, to follow in His steps, and to embrace His instruction in our lives.
Next Job passes these truths from his experience in Job 12:10 "For the life of every living thing is in His hand, and the breath of every human being."
So, God has taken into His care every living thing, man and animal, and in fact his total creation. Then He has also determined the very moment of our lives and what we should accomplish during that life. Now, remember Job is responding to his friends who have determined that the loss of all of his life (children, livestock, respect, etc.) was due to his sin.
Now look at Job's response, Remember, God is in control of every creature, all of His creation and the life of every human being. So in fact, these many things are under the control of God, so we must go back to Him and strive to determine the purpose of these events.
Now let's look at the final thought of this verse, "People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them." We aren't able to determine that the events coming into our lives have as their motives to administer love or hate, only God can know this. However, we should hold onto this underlying truth, and remember what Deut. 33:3 tells us, "Indeed, He loves His people" and that "all His holy ones are in His hands."
As I have been given the privilege this last year after covid - to look back on my life and be introduced to these very same lessons that Job was taught. I have been filled with wonder of the many people and circumstances that God was causing to flow through my entire life, to remind me of His love for me. How all of these people and events were living proof of just how much He loves us each one. Each time I encounter another person or event in which I am reminded of these truths, I am amazed that an all knowing God could love me, a weak, broken child, with so much love.
SO GO WITH GOD my dear children He makes no mistakes, and He knows absolutely every surrounding person, creature, and event in our lives. Rest in His, All Knowing hand. As Job learned that adversity brought to his life a spiritual depth that nothing else could have brought. Though he lost practically everything he had acquired in his life to this point, God would and did fulfill His promises to him. In the same way He is doing His work in your life, and as we surrender ourselves to His handiwork, (pun) "His holy ones are in His hands"
Just as Phil. 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, the He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
If you have a few moments listen to You Tube: Jerry Vale - He (lyrics)
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