Ecclesiastes
9 reminds me of the popular idea today of creating a “Bucket List”.
Simply put, this is a list of things someone wants to do before they
“Kick the bucket”. In today’s chapter, Solomon’s focus is
the inevitability of death. He begins with the question everyone
ponders at some point, what happens afterwards? He says, “no
one knows whether love or hate awaits them“.
All he knows for sure is, “All
share a common destiny- the righteous and the wicked, the good and
the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and
those who do not“. The
uncertainty clearly bothers him as he ponders the real meaning of
life. He makes this awful observation, “The
hearts of people… are full of evil… they live, and afterward they
join the dead“. But he
adds this important note, “Anyone
who is among the living has hope“.
Hope for what? Hope for still more fun? Hope for another breath?
He does not say, but he does say there is no point to going through
life miserable. “Go,
eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart…
Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love“.
Solomon above all people knew it was impossible to keep the Law of
Moses perfectly. He understood that God promised a Redeemer.
Solomon also knew that a time of certainty would come, when sin would
no longer separate man from God. That is the reason for hope!
Solomon’s
bucket list was completely checked, he had done it all. Solomon
explains that compared to eternity, life is brief, so “Whatever
your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of
the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning
nor knowledge nor wisdom“.
He adds this wrinkle to the careful planner, “The
race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food
come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant…
but
time and chance happen to them all“.
This is how many act toward God, as if Peace with God is a roll of
the dice, but he observes, death is a certainty. Are you ready?
Solomon
closes the chapter with a word to the comfortable, “As
fish are caught in a cruel net… so people are trapped by evil
times“.
To those that are confident in themselves, he warns that change will
“fall
unexpectedly upon them“.
Solomon relates a story of a small city attacked by a powerful king.
He notes that it was saved by the wisdom of a poor man, but later
“nobody
remembered that poor man… and
his
words are no longer heeded“.
Wisdom is quickly forgotten during good times and Bucket Lists are
often started too late. In the flurry of activity in our busy lives
today, we seldom take time to be quiet and listen. Solomon adds,
“The
quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a
ruler of fools“.
I have observed the one who shouts to drown out others often has
little understanding. Solomon ends with an important conclusion,
“Wisdom
is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good“.
Please do not let anyone keep you from believing that God loves you
and has prepared a place in eternity for you. Hebrews
chapter 9 provides a clear understanding about sin and death, “But
He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do
away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as people are
destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a
second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are
waiting for Him“.
There is certain salvation in Christ. Will you believe it or buck
it?