Ecclesiastes 7 Devotional

Both Kinds of Days

“In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him.”Ecclesiastes 7:14 (BSB)

The proverbs of Ecclesiastes 7 turn ordinary values upside down. Time in a house of grief does more good than time at a feast, since every life ends in death and the living need to remember it (7:2). Patience is better than pride (7:8). This is not gloom but truthfulness.

The chapter calls us to consider God's work. No one can reverse what God has done (7:13). In good days, be glad, and in hard days, remember that God has made both (7:14). The Teacher is just as honest about us. Not one person on earth always does good without sinning (7:20), and God made people upright, but they chose their own crooked paths (7:29). Paul says the same: all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Since no one can stand on their own record, hope has to rest on God's mercy. And since both kinds of days come from him, a hard day does not mean he has let go.

To think about: What would change in how you face a hard day if you received it from the same hand as your good days?