Our lives are just the prologue of a cosmic journey. And it is just one journey among a symphony of billions, in concert with a creation that declares the glory of God.
The goal of life is not to smooth out circumstances, but to see how we might fully participate in the great song of the cosmos. The praise of Heaven. The worship of the King.
It is important to enjoy prosperity. But This verse makes it clear that not all circumstances will be pleasant. Yet they are all part of the journey.
It is not easy to adopt the perspective that God is benevolent toward us when circumstances are hard. “Why would a loving God not want me to be comfortable?” Solomon waxes eloquent about the vaporous nature of human existence. We can’t understand it all. But when we trust God, and adopt the perspective He invites us to take, it makes a lot more sense. When times are bad, it is particularly important to worship. To believe that God has our best interest at heart.
Let’s not get stuck in trying to eliminate adversity. Adversity is a temporal thing that is inviting us into an eternal thing. Worship. Trust. Knowing God.
And this life is our one and only opportunity to know God by faith. Our vaporous existence on this planet is providing a cosmic blessing that we can only begin to understand. Let’s exercise faith to embrace our tremendous opportunity, and embrace life’s challenges while enjoying its blessings.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is about how to accept a proper perspective of reality. Only then can we make effective decisions about who we trust and how we live. This is the third in a series of six devotionals centered on Solomon’s teachings in Ecclesiastes. We pray it challenges and encourages you.