July 18, 2020 Bible Study God Gives Us Good Times and Bad Times, and He Has a Purpose in Both

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ecclesiastes 1-6.

While I find the Book of Ecclesiastes slightly depressing, I also find it very insightful.  When the writer tells us that we do not remember what happened in the past and that those in the future will not remember what we did, he is challenging us to break that pattern.  As a result of our failure to remember what happened in the past we think that we can reject the lessons which have been passed down to us from that past.  From time to time people think that they have come up with a new and better way to do things then have ever been thought of before.    If they had a better understanding of the past they would realize that they were mistaken.

The writer goes on to tell us that we should be content in the lot God has given us and take pleasure in it.  There is a balance in life.  I really like how the writer sums that up in the first eight verses of chapter three.  There is a time for everything.  There is a time for the good things in life and a time for those which are less pleasant.  We should not reject the times of laughter just because we experienced a time to cry, and we should not try to turn the time for grief into a time of dancing.  During the time of war and division we must remember that there will come a time for peace.