Sun.’s Devo - The Best is Yet to Come

Read: Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22; 2 Corinithians 6:1-13; Psalm 46:1-11; Proverbs 22:15
Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon after he had fallen into a cynical state of mind. He had married wives who turned his heart away from the Lord so instead of believing that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of knowledge like he stated in Proverbs; he now saw life as meaningless. Ecclesiastes was put in the Bible to show the difference between Proverbs when Solomon was walking with the Lord and filled with God’s wisdom and Ecclesiastes when he was using a method of observation and inductive reasoning to figure out life. They show God’s wisdom compared to man’s wisdom.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is bored with life. He doesn’t think God will do anything new. Isaiah 42:9 says that, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Solomon had lost hope in God bringing change which is God’s specialty. But, even in man’s wisdom there are some truths that can be seen. After Solomon tried every pleasure under the sun he came to the conclusion that wisdom was better than pleasure and that light was better than darkness. Hooray for Solomon!
Then he fell into depression when he realized that he could take none of his accomplishments with him when he died and they would all be left to the next generation who would forget him. How sad since the greatest thing we can do is leave an inheritance to the next generation. Jesus died for the next generation and everyone to follow.
Solomon talked about fate, God talks about destiny. Fate is determined but destiny is ours for the taking.
Paul definitly didn’t live his life in vain. He believed that every trial, trouble, hardship, distress, beating, imprisonment, riot, hard work, sleepless night, hunger, glory or dishonor, bad report or good, misunderstanding, popular or unpopular - it was all worth it for the sake of the gospel. He urged them not to close their hearts like Solomon had but to open their hearts to love freely as they had been freely loved.
Lord, help us not to get cynical but to keep pressing on with hope and vision. The best is always yet to come.