God’s Love Remains – In Prosperity and Hard Times

The Holy Bible

¹³ Accept the way God does things,

for who can straighten what he has made crooked?

¹⁴ Enjoy prosperity while you can,

but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God.

Remember that nothing is certain in this life.

(Bible Translation and Location: New Living Translation – Ecclesiastes 7:13-14)

Thoughts:

The last verse in this chapter, Ecclesiastes 7:29 reads: ²⁹This is all that I have learnt: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. I believe that this verse sums up our human race so well, for we are never satisfied with just the facts, we have to prove they are true, and that the speaker or the author had no bias towards what they said! Friends, our key verses today is basically reminding us that our God is way more powerful than we could ever imagine, in fact Solomon went on to illustrate the majesty and power of God by reminding us that no one can straighten out the curves in this universe made by God. Therefore we should continue to trust Him through our praises and celebrations when things are prosperous and going well for us. However, although we often neglect to stop and praise Him for our everyday happiness, safety, family, friends, work, knowledge and so much more, we seem to do just the opposite when it comes to those hard times in our lives. We are reminded in verse 14 that 'everything' comes from God, both the good and the challenging times. Think about it friend: if God loves His dear children, why would that differ when things are going wrong, vs the times when we are on cloud nine with joy and happiness? When we discipline our children, it is not because we hate them today vs yesterday. We discipline because we love them and want to help them do better. There's a popular song out today entitled "I will Praise You in the Storm" that speaks very loudly and clearly to this unconditional love of God for which we are to be thankful and praise-worthy at all times. Will you join me in shifting our negativity during challenging times to more of a praise time because of God's love to discipline us and show us a better way to live? Can we learn to praise Him in spite of our personal circumstances – good or bad?


Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You made us, so I am confident that You are well aware of our weaknesses, especially during those challenging times in our lives. Please touch Your children today and help us to be more of a thankful people. For I believe that if we did a better job of praising, thanking and celebrating during our 'good times' then, perhaps, we will more easily recognize that You are still God, still in control, and will do nothing to harm us, but rather continue to mold us during the times when we feel so out of control. You went through some very challenging times even as our supreme Lord, so help us to understand that these times will come. However, help us to follow Your example in dealing with our challenges, for You healed the ear of an attacker in the garden, and You prayed for the Father to bless those who hung You on the cross. Please help us to recognize You daily for the loving God that You are, knowing that You have our best interest at heart. Please continue to bless others through us, both during our prosperous times and especially through our challenging times, and may we continually praise You through every event in life, for I ask this in the wonderful name of Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

 
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day's devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!