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ECCLESIASTES: PROVIDING A CORRECT WORLD VIEW FOR A LIFE OF MEANING
Part VII: Advice On Living This Life In View Of Man's Limitations To Find Meaning In It
A. Living In View Of Life's Unplanned Adversities And Prosperity
(Ecclesiastes 7:1-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. After informing us of the vanity of this life if empirically considered "under the sun," Solomon supplied advice on functioning wisely in this earthly life in view of its vanity and uncertainties.
    2. Since both adversity and prosperity are mingled with one another in God's plan for every man, and as each of these comes at times unplanned by us, Solomon suggested how to live wisely in view of both:
  2. Living In View Of Life's Unplanned Adversities And Prosperity, Ecclesiastes 7:1-14.
    1. As Donald Glenn reports in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 991, the theme to Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 resides in verse 14 where Solomon claimed God arranges for both prosperity and adversity to come into our lives in such a way that we can not accurately predict the future.
    2. As such, we are to approach this life with a focus on God rather than with a love for things or events in this life, for our reaction to life's events that GOD seeks is wisdom in BOTH adversity AND prosperity:
      1. To begin this section on man's need to respond well to adversity and prosperity, Solomon announced it was better to die with a good reputation than it was to have a promising beginning in life that became wasted in temporal folly and produced a bad reputation at the end of this life, Eccles. 7:1; Ibid., p. 992.
      2. That being said, he reported how important it was to keep one's reputation upright throughout life in view of the greatest adversity we will face in this life, that of our physical death, Ecclesiastes 7:2-4:
        1. Solomon asserted it was better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting as the former caused the wise to recall he would also die, and thus be motivated to live wisely, Eccles. 7:2.
        2. Hence, it was better for people to consider the brevity of life than to try drowning out their grief of death with mirth as the former had more productive long-term benefits, Ecclesiastes 7:3-4.
      3. For similar reasons, Solomon revealed it was better for one living this life to heed wise people who had a sobering view of this life than it was to adopt the vain outlook of those with foolish laughter, 7:5-6.
      4. Yet, Solomon warned one can let himself be overly influenced by either prosperity or by adversity so that he becomes unwisely vain by prosperity or depressed by adversity, 7:7-10; Ibid., p. 992-993.
      5. However, Solomon noted money with wisdom was a good combination to have, for wisdom shields one from death and leads him to use his money as a further shield to minimize adversity, 7:11-12.
      6. In the end, we must realize God's weaving of adversity with prosperity is past our finding out, meaning we should look above the good and bad times of life to focus on God and His will in our lives, 7:13-14.
    3. Solomon's advice on living in view of life's unplanned future adversities and prosperity leads us to the wisdom of his conclusion to which all the parts of his book point, in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 as follows:
      1. As we all have prosperity interwoven with adversity in our futures, we must view life's adversities and prosperity as of secondary importance to our final accounting to God, Eccles. 12:13-14 with 7:13-14.
      2. That being said, we must recall this life's transitory nature beckons us to focus on preserving our reputation with righteous living in view of our final accounting to the Lord, Ecclesiastes 7:1 with 2-4.
      3. Also, we should likewise heed the advice of wise people over fun-loving fools as the suggestions of the former tend to more profitable living in view of our important final accounting to God, Eccles. 7:5-6.
      4. Then, we must not become vain in prosperous times or overly depressed in adversity, for both life's ups and downs are interwoven by God into life's fabric to prod us to lift our gaze in this life up to our eternal accounting to God versus putting much stock in this life's concerns and issues, Eccles. 7:7-10.
      5. Yet, being wise shields us from a short life, so we should strive for wisdom; then, if God grants us money with wisdom, we can use our wisdom to manage it to shield us even more from adversity, 7:11f
Lesson: God weaves prosperity and adversity into our lives to prod us to value our eternal accounting to Him more than this life, and that so we will LIVE RIGHTLY in this life. That being so, we should be WISE to lessen adversity and to MANAGE what resources we are granted to lessen adversity the more!

Application: May we look ABOVE BOTH this life's prosperous AND adverse times to focus on our eternal accounting to GOD, and so WISELY do what is RIGHT and also be PRUDENT in ALL of life!