Ecclesiastes 9 (6)

Pray Psalm 115..9-11.
O Israel, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.

Read Ecclesiastes 9.12.

Prepare.
1. What does man not know? Why not?

2. How should people prepare for sudden trials?

Meditate.
The troubling fact that we cannot fully know the details of our lives is punctuated throughout by the fact that our lives can also be suddenly cut short.

Learn the lesson of the fish and the birds. What could be freer than these? Until, suddenly…

So we go along in our lives, thinking ourselves free and invincible. Then suddenly, the net, the snare, some unforeseen evil. Then what, Rehoboam? Then nothing – that is, if all you have to look forward to is the grave and Sheol. Does he think he’ indestructible? Impervious to “chance”? The fool might think that each day is just going to be one more joy ride, one more stage in his life-long cavort; instead, each day might be his last, and if he hasn’t thought about this, perhaps he should.

Two responses to the Gospel that you might hear in an age such as ours: “I know you’re probably right, and I’m sure that some day I’ll become a Christian. For now, though, I still want to sow my wild oats.” Well, if sowing wild oats is what life’s all about, why ever stop? And if it’s not, why waste your time?

The second: “I want to become a Christian, but I’m not quite ready. I need to think about this awhile before I believe.” As I once heard Jim Kennedy say in response to this, “Fine, just do me one favor: Between now and then, don’t die first.”

Believers need to help unbelievers consider the foolishness of banking everything on fun and chance. Such confrontations won’t convert anyone – only the Gospel and the Spirit can do that. But they might help achieve a breakthrough in the armor of unbelief with which many of our lost friends protect themselves against the claims of Christ.

Solomon hoped as much for Rehoboam, and we might hope as much for our unbelieving friends as well.

Reflect.
1. Believing in chance offers no firm footing for a happy life. Explain.  

2. How do people today try to deal with the unforeseen things that befall them “in an evil time”? How should we respond when we see sudden trials coming upon an unbelieving friend?   

3. How does the believer deal with the uncertainties of life? How can we know joy even when things go wrong?

Many can know chronological time. Everybody, for example, knows that noon is the time for healthy people to eat lunch. The time, however, which is determined by physicians, is not known to everyone but only to the physician. And since there is only one physician for the soul, to whom we say, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you,” only this physician knows our time. But the individual does not know his time. Didymus the Blind (313-398), Commentary on Ecclesiastes 286.1

I can’t know what lies ahead of me this day, Lord, but I can prepare for any eventuality by…

Pray Psalm 115.4-8.
Pray for the people in your Personal Mission Field who are trusting in idols of one kind or another. Pray that they will see the vanity of such confidence. Pray that God will allow you to come alongside them when trials befall, and that He will use the sudden troubles of their lives to open their hearts to Him.

Sing Psalm 115.4-8.
Psalm 115.4-8 (Plainfield: Nothing but the Blood of Jesus)
Idols made by men’s own hand – ever to Your Name be glory –
see nor hear nor understand – ever to Your Name be glory!
They neither feel nor walk, nor can they speak or talk.
All those who serve them fall, but unto Your Name be glory!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).