Friday is for Heart Songs
Reflecting on Ecclesiastes 7:14 (ESV)
In the day of prosperity SITUATION
be joyful ACTION
and
In the day of adversity SITUATION
consider ACTION
God has made one as well as the other PERSPECTIVE
so that PURPOSE
man may not find out anything that will be after him. RESULT
———————————–
Why doesn’t God want us to know what comes after us?
Why does he hide the future from his children?
What is the design of mystery in God’s relationship to his people?
If he announces that he has hidden something, is it dangerous to look for a reason?
Maybe there is a better tactical question.
How does not knowing what “is to come after” help me to not live a life of vanity (the theme of the book, a better translation would be “vapor”)? What is it that God wants to accomplish in me that the means to perfect it is to keep me in the dark?
Might it be that the joy and happiness of prosperity and times of abundance, together with reflection brought on by adversity and lack, combine to make me a better man?
Today was great, tomorrow will be … only the sovereign Lord knows.
Today was filled with horrors; tomorrow may be filled with transcendent joy . . . only the sovereign Lord knows.
Perhaps God mingles prosperity and adversity in our lives so that no prediction of the future is possible. Tonight I type away on a blog and tomorrow I could have a heart attack and walk through the portal into eternity. I really don’t know what “will come after me.”
And that is God’s plan.
He wants me to think about the life I am living today not the life I might live tomorrow.
He wants me to live with passion for him in this moment in time because it is the only moment that I know that I have.
“Lord Jesus, help me to live that way, everyday, till my final day. Amen”
ChosenRebel's Blog 
WOW! Is this a word to take into the prison this afternoon or not? One of the major problems that my brothers face is the tendency to always attempt to live in the future. Understandable but futile.
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These three came in through networkedblogs at facebook:
Laura Said: “Because he can”
Lisa Said: “So that we will walk by faith and not by sight and find comfort in knowing that God is in control of the challenges we face. GOD IS GREAT!!!”
Greg said: “Marty, the passage on the future you are right on…
Regarding the theme of Ecclesiastes (Qohelet), it is not “vanity” but “hebel – vapor”…BDB gets it right as its primary meeting…see Debbie’s Th.M. thesis on this book…Ron Allen on this book…and others.
Life is a vapor…key focus of the entire book and that you picked back up on with talking about we do not know what tomorrow is like. Thanks and love you friend,”
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Laura: absolutely true.
Lisa: you delight your old pastor’s heart. absolutely right.
Greg: thanks for the refinement. Appreciate your ministry. Tell Debbie I said hello.
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Because we don’t NEED to know, we just WANT to know. As we trust Him, we trust His choice of when to reveal to us what is coming. He never fails.
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Right on, as usual, Marty. I find such absolute joy in waiting for what our great Lord has in store for the next minute. He allows me one breath at a time…how gracious and loving!!!!!! Give my love to Steph and the kids; love you too. Leslie
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A couple of thoughts from the intervening 5 years.
1. God said not to worry about tomorrow and this is one of His ways of enforcing that direction.
2. His ways are higher than my ways and there is no way I could understand even if He told me.
All covered by that majestic pronouncement, “TRUST ME”
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The need to live in the present and seek what we are to do each day becomes ever more pressing the older I become! He hides the future because I will waste the day, either dwelling on what has been or what might be!
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