- It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. Ecclesiastes 9:2 – Remember Solomon is in a stage of his life where he is observing all there is to this life and coming up with his conclusions about life, seeking to find life’s meaning and purpose. With such depressing conclusions we assume then he must have wrote this book later in his life when he had walked away from the holy worship of God. Solomon in our verse says the same event, death, happens to all. Whether you strove to be righteous or strove to be wicked, death came to you and from Solomon’s conclusions there was nothing beyond this life. Life ceased and all consciousness ceased. If then there is nothing beyond this life and death comes to everyone no matter how they lived, then what is the point of this life? If there is no reward for right living and no punishment for evil living and all receive the same end, then nothing matters except to find as much pleasure in this life as you can, something Solomon directs us to do later in the chapter. This is where Solomon was at in this stage of his life, but I pray this isn’t where you are at today. Life and consciousness don’t end when your life on earth ends. There is an afterlife and while death does happen to all, not all have the same outcome of what their afterlife will be. Those who have trusted in the righteousness of Jesus find Heaven while those who remain in their evil find Hell sadly as their future. If you are a believer do what you can to help those around you with Solomon’s mindset to see there is more beyond this life and the choices you make in this life matter within the life to come. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3394
- Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Ecclesiastes 9:18 – You’ve seen this play out far too often. Like you have people trying to encourage you yet one person degrades you and their negative comment overshadows all the positive from before. Or you have a church moving forward and one person stubbornly refusing to let go of their sin causing turmoil in the congregation. Our passage is reminding us to never discount the damage sin can bring. It can destroy in a instance what time and trust has taken years to build. This is why God is so strict about sin and why He uses His Holy Scriptures to lead us away from sin. God knows better than all how much damage sin can bring. Take the time today to see how you’re inviting sin even in small ways into your life. Be wise and close off the opportunities these sins can have to ruin your life. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 843
- Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11 – Certain things to certain people just make sense. Like the one who runs the race the hardest should win the race or the one who is the smartest should be earning the most riches. Yet, as the verse reminds us, that’s not always the case. “Time and chance” play into all this and those that push hard may find themselves on the losing side because of things they could have never planned for. So what’s the message here? Trust God is in control of the variables. Push hard and do your best. Yes, sometimes things in life will go differently than you expected them to and as a result things won’t end up like you planned. Trust through that when a variable in life is thrown in God is aware of it and over it. If we are pushing hard on the path He has shown us to go down we can have faith He’ll take care of us on it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1665
- Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. Ecclesiastes 9:10 – In an interesting way, I’m seeing here that Solomon was first to say YOLO, meaning “you only live once.” Noticing that death is going to come all and there is no work to be done once our life is over, we are to give everything we got to what’s right in front of us. Because you only live once, live this life to the fullest and give your all to the work in front of you. Yet, as believers, this isn’t a push to give yourself wholly over to the sinful pleasures of the world. Just because you have only one life to live you aren’t being called to waste it on sin. You have one life, today is only here for today, at some point your time on earth will end. Until that moment, use your life for the purposes and glorification of God. Don’t wait till tomorrow, don’t give a halfhearted effort; live for Jesus like today is your last. You do only live once, make your life matter by making it about Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1999
Daily DEVO 