Good times or Hard Times they're both from God

What's up everybody? While reading Ecclesiastes 7 tonight I was reminded of a point I think we should always try to keep fresh in our brain. Ecclesiastes 7:14 reads... Enjoy prosperity while you can. But when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. That way you will realize that nothing is certain in this life. I know for me, sometimes when bad things happen I want to ask "How could God let that happen?" I guess what I should say is "Why did God make that happen? Instead of questioning His absence maybe I should look deeper into why God planned things the way He did. There's most definitely a lesson wired in. Solomon makes the point that hardships are often times the best way to learn from God. Solomon is just full of quotes that get me to double take. He'll say things and I'll go "woooow, what the heck does he mean by that. And on further digging I usually find that the king was right on with his point.

There are tons of stories we can all recall when God taught us something by our failures. I bet in a lot of cases you came away better for them too. A few years ago, real estate in my home town was prospering like you would not believe. People were buying up and selling things left and right. Land was basically gold here. Then all the sudden it came crashing to a hault. People were stuck with more than they could hold. And the banks had to move in. Several banks even went under, because even they couldn't get rid of the debt. There are a lot of people where I live that are being crushed by this poor economy in the real estate business. A lot of formerly wealthy people have lost just about everything they own from some tough timing and maybe, in some cases, some poor planning. What I'm getting at is this... yes God will surely, hopefully provide us with many happy moments and probably some prosperity. But, He will undoubtedly bring us back down to earth at some point. Remember that nothing is certain in life. Not your portfolio, not your career, not anything. It appears the only things certain are that God is in control and that we are incapable of being God. Therefor, we are incapable of having total control like we sometimes think. So, the happy, cheery, fun part of that verse is to enjoy our prosperity while we can. That was God's plan for us originally anyway. Don't worry, be happy and trust God when things don't go as you planned. He's using his own blackberry not ours.

-waino

ps...starting tomorrow I'm going to fast something for 21 days. I would love some company on this. Each day we'll read a chapter of John. The thing you fast (quit, cut out, get rid of, take a break from) should be hard to give up so that each time you deny it you'll think of God. Last year I did fried foods and that was agony. Think it over....