QT: Profits Not Erasable By Death Ecc9:1-2 Week 39: 19/09/2023. Tue
Profits Not Erasable By Death
https://www.esv.org/Ecc9:1-2
Week 39: 19/09/2023. Tue
Ecclesiastes 9:1–2 Death Comes to All [1] But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. [2] 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. (ESV)
The teacher points to one of life's laments, frustration and despair faced by those who attempt to live well. The result of sincere and honest living, however, do frequently disclose the opposite instead. We have heard it before, the "dietary careful" person who took only "healthy" food was struck by a health challenge. The diligent worker was somehow not promoted. The sincere seeker got rejected as a friend. Good intentions and actions were ridiculed.
These negative experiences bring pain and disorientation, as humans ponder on the meanings of living in this fallen world in the presence of a loving and all powerful God. Temptations to label God as "unloving" or "not all powerful" might arise in His sincere followers.
Ecclesiastes' pedagogy entail putting the reader in dissonance, chaos amid "typhoons of life", so that further reflection and gems of wisdom can precipitate like nourishing rainfalls out of these. Because attaining wisdom can never be merely passing over a thumbdrive for the learner to "copy/paste", readers are challenged to learn wisdom while attempting to live it out, guided by all the laws and commands that God has already prescribed.
Once readers attain this type of wisdom forged in the fire of disasters, holy living, faith and trust in God at all times, this type of profit in wisdom cannot be erased by death nor snatched away by anyone. What are you investing in today?
