There are some things in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 I found very tough to grasp!
“And the day you die is better than the day you are born.” …uuuh what?
Look at verse 2 … “Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies-so the living should take this to heart.”
Solomon isn’t encouraging us to think morbidly, but it’s an undisputable fact that everyone dies. Many people don’t want to go there…they refuse to think about death, and even don’t want to attend funerals. By telling us this, Solomon realizes that it’s helpful to talk about death; it reminds us that we can examine the direction of our lives, and it reminds us that we still have time to confess our sins and find forgiveness in God. We have time to establish our final destination… heaven or hell.
Next, Solomon switches gears and gives us a lesson on adversity….
“Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.” Ecclesiastes 7: 3, 4
Most would agree that we can learn more about God from difficult times than from happy times. Adversity reminds us that life is short, teaches us to live wisely, and refines our character. Solomon is saying that we gain wisdom in the crucible of suffering, trouble, and difficulty…while the fool lives in the house of a continual party! Life is not a party, and the person who laughs all the time is denying reality. Solomon says it best …
“There’s a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance.”
Ecclesiastes 3: 4
Let me say that I couldn’t have learned what God taught me, if it wasn’t for this disease. He has done so many things for and through me; the deepest growth in my life has occurred in my suffering. Here is a quote from A.W. Tozer…
“God cannot use a man until he has hurt him deeply.”
A blogger friend of mine, Raymond from LoCTY, recommended a study guide on Ecclesiastes by David Jeremiah. I used David Jeremiah’s study guide on Spiritual Warfare earlier in my blog posts on The Armor of God. So I’m using his study guide for looking at Ecclesiastes, the study guide’s title is Searching for Heaven on Earth. I think using this will bring much needed understanding on this book for the both of us.
Let’s go back to verse 1: “…And the day you die is better than the day you are born.”
Dr. Jeremiah sums this verse up beautifully…”When a baby is born, we pray it will live a good and godly life; but we don’t know. There are no guarantees. But when a person reaches the end of life and can look back on goodness and godliness, then that day of mourning is better than the rejoicing at his birthday.”