Proper Perspective - Ecclesiastes #22

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. ¹⁹ As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

As the old saying goes: “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. And, believe me, rich is better.” Tevye, the main character of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” would agree with this saying if only he’d ever been rich! He contemplates on how he would live his life if God would find a way to bestow on him a small fortune. In his soliloquy, he dreams about not having to work hard, taking long vacations to Jerusalem to worship and pray, and his wife being the proverbial mother hen (What a life!). By the end of the production, even if he had greater means (like Lazar, the middle-class butcher), he’d still be a victim of a meaningless pogrom and lose everything.

If there is a theme to this week’s devotions, it must be about our perspective on wealth and possessions. Do we really believe that God provides for our every need according to His riches? Do we trust in His plan regardless of our bank accounts or investment portfolios? Do we rely on His will, His foresight, His deliverance? If His plan for us includes suffering (much like the Jewish residents of Anatevka), do we suffer in Him?

In response to these questions, the Apostle Paul declares that he “can do all things through Christ who strengthens” him (Philippians 4:13). Meaning, whether in want or in abundance, free or in prison for your faith (where Paul was when he wrote those words), he can be content in the situation because his contentment rests in Christ and not on the stuff of earth. Rest in the blood of Christ, His forgiveness of your sins, and eternity with Him.

In Christ Alone,

Dan

Previous devotion of a similar theme:

https://devotionsbydan.blogspot.com/2023/12/from-hand-of-god.html