Ecclesiastes: Wisdom to Live for Heaven While on EarthSample

Matt Chandler once referred to these verses as “a list of ingredients God mixes together to mold you and shape you into His desired result.” They do not read as a to-do list, but rather descriptions of what you can expect to encounter in your life. You don’t know the when, the what, and the how that will result in you becoming who God desires you to be, and that’s okay, because God does.

Nothing you encounter in your life – good or bad – catches God off guard. Things may happen in your life that you never would have picked. After all, you and I would never choose pain, sorrow or discomfort. But we often grow closer to the Lord and His purposes during our desperate moments more than our joyful ones.

Think back on some of the hardest moments of your life: can you see God working?

God may use dark times to draw you closer to Him and increase your dependence on Him. Or He may use those hard times to break a stronghold in your life. God will use circumstances to grow in you what needs to be stronger and to destroy things that would tempt you to veer from Him – even if that means you must endure temporary pain or discomfort.

Everything God does and allows in your life is part of His perfect plan for you. He can use joy and grief, blessing and even disaster, to ultimately reflect His character and glorify Him.

But here’s the thing we have to remember: God is not just over one or the other. He is sovereign over every micro and macro event – the good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent, the amazing, the mediocre – of your life.

Two questions for you to consider:

• When was the last time you desperately begged God to intervene when all was well in your world?
• Or how often has someone demanded an explanation for your faith during your time of abundance?

Our greatest opportunity, both for our own personal growth and for the opportunity to witness to others, is in our suffering. God loves you and the people around you too much to never allow you to endure difficulty.

Praise Him loudly in the good times.

Praise Him even louder in your pain.

God, I know that You know what’s best for me. While I would never choose discomfort or pain, I trust You to orchestrate what You know that I need to be the person You have called me to be. I don’t have to understand what You’re doing to trust what You’re doing. Use my life circumstances to grow my faith, as well as the faith of those around me. Amen.