August 26

Ecclesiastes 6, 7
Psalm 95, 96

So many thoughts again this day while reading Ecclesiastes, but this one in particular stood out to me, “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.”  From an earthly perspective, this is hard to accept.  We like the bad guys to get zapped.  We like it when crime does not pay and the wicked are caught red-handed and made to pay for what they have done.  Like the Psalm we read earlier this week, Psalm 94, we hear the wicked say "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed."

 If our perspective were only bound in time – birth, life, and then death was the end of a person’s existence, we might have to conclude that we agree with those who said that.  Some wicked people really do seem to flourish – they have big houses, drive really nice cars, have important jobs and influence a lot of people.  Yesterday while listening to Dr. David Jeremiah on the radio, I heard him say, “Believers have superficial difficulties and central happiness, while non-believers have superficial happiness and central difficulties.”  I have observed this to be true – for all the houses, cars, jobs and influence the wicked obtain, do any of them have central happiness? Each person must ultimately face death and each person must ultimately understand that, whatever one had on earth, it must be left behind and, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “Who knows whether he will be a wise man, or a fool?”

It is only the peace that passes all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus that gives us central happiness and contentment, knowing that this world and this life is not the end of us.  God does see and has paid heed to what has been done and each of us must someday meet Him.  Will it be joyfully, thankfully, running to meet Him, or fearfully, dragging our feet?

Psalm 95 uses an image of God’s people common in scripture; we are people of his pasture, the flock under His care.  My husband maintains that God created sheep purely as an object lesson for us.  Sheep are not the…sharpest animals in the pasture.  As most of us know, sheep will wander aimlessly, even off a cliff, if they are not carefully fenced in and given direction. It doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to understand that that is exactly what we do so often in life.

In the context of Psalm 95, we are said to be the sheep under His care – it is that idea of His daily guidance and provision for us; watching over us that helps us understand how much God cares about us.  The writer of the Psalms tells us if we hear the voice of our Shepherd, we should not harden our hearts, but should listen to it, remembering that the Shepherd wants only the very best for His sheep.